iWorld
ZEE5 goes aggressive with OOH marketing for ‘Karenjit Kaur’
MUMBAI: Despite touting digital as the next big thing, brands haven’t given up on traditional modes of marketing. Digital is great for disruption but they cannot still do without the out-of-home (OOH) marketing strategy.
ZEEL’s digital venture ZEE5 has also been doing the same to promote its new flagship show Karenjit Kaur – the untold story of Sunny Leone which went live recently. Hoardings of the show are prominently visible in the top 10 markets which include metro cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. These cities are prime targets because users here have access to the bandwidth and appropriate devices to enjoy the content which is being marketed.
“Outdoor also works as a great medium for impact and driving imagery. Sunny Leone chose ZEE5 as a platform to do her biopic and reach out to her fans. Of course there’s a big statement in that. Therefore, one reason is awareness, making more and more consumers aware that Sunny Leone’s biopic is available on ZEE5 as a platform. The other of course is purely impact and imagery perspective as well,” said ZEE5 India’s new business head Manish Aggarwal.
You can channel a channel when an ad comes on linear TV, you can skip an ad on YouTube or another platform but you cannot miss a hoarding when you travel. It isn’t just ZEE5 but even Netflix, Amazon, TVF etc who don’t miss out on OOH.
Sunny Leone’s past definitely makes her a target. The Mankind brand ambassador faced a backlash from ‘sanskari’ India last year when outdoor banners featuring her condom ad in Gujarat were criticised, forcing Mankind to pull them down.
ZEE5 hasn’t yet seen any such backlash except for the normal social media’s abusive comments. Aggarwal says that the overall sentiments for the show are “extremely positive”.
Apart from OOH, ZEE5 partnered with several radio stations. Digitally, it made use of Leone’s social media assets. Zee channels are featuring show promos during prime time.
“We looked at searches for Sunny Leone on YouTube, Google and which market drives searches for us. We have triangulated our market strengths, Google trends, YouTube trends etc. Then we formulated a strategy based on where our audience resides and accordingly we reached out to them through various mediums – outdoor, digital, radio,” he said.
The series is available in four regional languages too, including Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. The premise of ZEE5’s launch was to ensure India’s languages aren’t deprived of good content. “You want to watch good content whether its drama, thriller or comedy. Zero KMS is a dark thriller, we dubbed it and saw other language people are also watching it,” Aggarwal said.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
