Ad Campaigns
Amitabh Bachchan revives his ‘Angry Young Man’ avatar in new upGrad ad
Mumbai: Ed-tech major upGrad’s latest digital film features actor Amitabh Bachchan in his 70’s popular persona of the ‘Angry Young Man.’ Conceptualised by upGrad’s creative agency The Womb, the ad spot announces the launch of its new vertical upGrad Abroad.
Directed by Amit Sharma of Chrome Pictures, the ad film shows Big B on an uncharacteristic rampage annoyed by the fact that upGrad Abroad offerings did not exist during his college days. The film aims to reassure parents and young aspirants that learning opportunities from globally recognised institutions need not be limited by societal or financial constraints anymore. The film is now live across upGrad’s digital platforms.
According to the ed-tech, aspirants who seek to attain academic qualifications from global institutes or universities can now pursue their dream through upGrad Abroad’s diversified portfolio of 20+ programs that comes with the flexibility to complete the first 12 months online, followed by the on-campus learning in the subsequent months.
“Over decades, the world has seen Bachchan on 70mm, KBC on TV and in numerous ads,” The Womb creative head Suyash Khabya. “So, how do we show him differently now? And that’s where the idea of bringing back ‘Angry Bachchan’ struck us. At the shoot, he was as fit as a fiddle even at 80…kicking, punching, and breaking stuff. We felt as if we were reliving the Zanjeer or Deewar era again. We’re confident that just like he breaks upGrad’s office in the commercial, the ad will break clutter.”
“Times have really changed. We live in a world where opportunities are booming across all walks of life,” remarked Amitabh Bachchan. “I enjoyed doing this ad film because I want to remind today’s youngsters and their parents that in life appreciating and seizing opportunities is what will lead them ahead. Experiencing learning in newer ways as offered by upGrad Abroad, puts forth such an opportunity where you can access global education at affordable prices.”
“While our recently launched upGrad Abroad vertical is a breakthrough, we realised that the bigger challenge is to first reach out to the relevant target audience and create maximum visibility for them to be able to make an informed decision,” commented upGrad India CEO Arjun Mohan. “In this regard, it was extremely critical for us to understand the market sentiment and then make a strong marketing move. And that’s when the decision of joining hands with Amit ji to further our upGrad Abroad mission, came to life; whose on-screen persona and charm will undoubtedly make heads turn and will leave a lasting impact on the audience, thus hitting the bull’s eye.”
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
