MAM
Big B to star in public service campaigns to clear ABCL dues
NEW DELHI: `Doordarshan means desh darshan (watching DD means watching the whole country). Yeh, main Amitabh Bchchan bol rahan hoon.’ Soon the Big B may be mouthing such lines in social messages related to India’s pubcaster’s massive reach exclusively on DD channels. And that too free of cost.
The Prasar Bharati board in a meeting today okayed a formula that would help Bachchan retire the dues that his company AB Corp, formerly ABCL, owes to DD in lieu of programmes that were produced for DD, but failed to generate much revenue.
Though Bachchan had paid up over Rs 195 million in 2001 of the total dues that his company owed to DD, the interest component amounting to Rs 125 million remains to be paid.
The Prasar Bharati board has agreed, after trying in vain to evaluate the market price of Bachchan, that the best known face of Indian cinema and also TV would be used in a series of about 10 campaigns on DD. These campaigns would be construed to be valued at par with the amount that AB Corp still owes DD.
Prasar Bharati is an autonomous organization that manages the affairs of DD and All India Radio and survives mostly on financial aid doled out by the government annually. In recent times the organization has been under pressure to narrow the gap between its annual expenditure and income.
Though as part of another formula it had been suggested that Bachchan do some shows for DD free of cost to settle his dues, the plan does not seem to have worked out. It is now expected that the Big B would endorse various social messages instead.
The decision of Prasar Bharati was also hastened by a request from the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, a body to which bankrupt companies are referred, which said that it would be in the interest of AB Corp that it settles all its dues as soon s possible before the BIFR okays the financial reorganization.
Considering that some big corporate houses like ICICI, Dabur Foods Ltd., Nerolac Paints and even the health department of the government (in polio eradication campaigns) use Bachchan effectively to push products and the company profile, it remains to be seen whether DD can imaginatively use the Big B’s brand equity.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
