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Contract hires senior CDs to beef up Tata Docomo team
MUMBAI: Contract Advertising has brought on board Abhishek Chaswal and Rupesh Sahay as VP and senior creative directors on the Tata Docomo business. Both Chaswal and Sahay will be reporting to Contract Delhi executive creative director Mayur Hola.
“Rupesh and Abhishek together bring a unique blend to Contract. Chaswal has his own special blend of madness and indeed an unfettered, entrepreneurial spirit. His approach to communication is unique and media agnostic. Rupesh on the other hand is a multi-talented and supremely gifted individual. A national award winning documentary film maker, he is also a brilliant art director and one of the most responsible leaders I have come across. I am sure that together they will make Contract proud and enjoy their time here as much as Contract will enjoy having them,” said Hola.
Chaswal, who joins in from Cheil was responsible for the work on Delhi Daredevils, Halonix and the Samsung TV range. With an experience of close to 14 years, Chaswal started his career in a direct marketing agency as a copywriter. Eventually he moved into main stream advertising where he worked with agencies such as Everest, Euro RSCG (now, Havas) and Leo Burnett. During the course of his career he has worked across a broad spectrum of brands such as PSI, Aaj Tak, Mortein, MakeMyTrip, Max New York Life, Voltas, Minute Maid, The Indian Express, Bilt and Tetra Pak to name a few. A well awarded creative, Chaswal’s work has received recognition in national and international advertising award shows like Goafest, New York Festivals, Adfest and The Work.
“I join Contract with the hunger to realise brave ideas that work for the brand as well as for the audience and the agency; and with Ashish Chakravarty leading the creative, I am sure the journey to the sweet spot will be memorable,” said Chaswal.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Sahay for whom this is a second stint at Contract. Sahay joins in from DDB Mudra where he was the senior CD. A graduate of the Banaras Hindu University, he has worked at McCann Erickson, Rediffusion-Y&R, Saatchi & Saatchi & RK Swamy BBDO during the course of his career. His brand roster includes Coca-Cola, Reebok, Aircel, Videocon, General Motors, Nescafe, and Domino’s Pizza to name a few. A very talented and highly awarded creative, Rupesh has won the 61st National Film Award for his short film ‘The Lost Behrupiya’.
“This is my second stint at Contract and this place has always been very energetic. I am really excited to join good talented bunch of people. For me joining Contract is joining strong creative people such as Ashish Chakravarty, Vineet Mahajan and Mayur Hola,” said Sahay.
Contract Advertising won the creative mandate for Tata Docomo in April. Post which the agency has made some very senior level hires to service the business which includes the hiring of Shruti Verma, who came on board last month as senior VP to head the Tata Docomo business.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
