MAM
Day 2: 51 nominations for Indian agencies
MUMBAI: The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the second set of nominations in the categories of Outdoor, Media, Radio, Press, Cyber and Design.
Indian agencies got a total of 51 nominations. However, none was chosen in the Cyber Lions.
In terms of total number of nominations, Mudra Communications led the pack with twelve nominations, followed by McCann Worldgroup and BBDO with eight recommendations each — sprinkled across disciplines.
Mudra Communications dominated the Design and Press categories with six recommendations each . Three nominations came for its campaign — Dwarf Depression created for Loving Hands Ministry.
McCann Worldgroup‘s different campaigns created for its lost love, Onida, got a total of five nominations in various categories.
Moreover, 19 nominations came from the Press group alone, followed by 11 in the Design and the Outdoor Lions categories. In Media Lions seven campaigns were chosen worthy.
The Outdoor category saw Taproot and Joshbro Communications getting three nominations each.
In the Radio Lions, only McCann, for three of its campaigns, was found creative enough to be chosen.
BBDO dictated the Media Lions category with three nominations, including one for the hit Shave Sutra campaign, in the best consumer engagement sub-category.
With fresh nominations, Indian shortlists at Cannes Lions 2011 now stand at 67.
MAM
Fringe festival finally hits Mumbai stage in March
60 plus shows from 10–15 March 2026 at NCPA plus Bandra venues.
MUMBAI: The Fringe is no longer on the fringe, it’s centre stage in Mumbai, ready to turn the city into a creative playground. After nearly 80 years of shaking up global performance culture from Edinburgh to Prague and Adelaide, the world’s largest open-access arts movement makes its India debut with the Mumbai Fringe Festival from 10 to 15 March 2026.
Kicking off at the iconic Tata Theatre, NCPA, the six-day celebration will spill across Bandra’s buzzing creative circuit, Khar Comedy Club, 3 Art House and indifferent @ Gharonda delivering nearly 60 performances in comedy, theatre, poetry, storytelling and experimental work. This isn’t a sit-down spectacle; it’s a city on the move, with audiences hopping between venues to catch new voices and bold ideas in their rawest form.
The lineup mixes homegrown stars with international heavyweights. Rohan Joshi, Kanan Gill, Varun Grover, Aakash Gupta, Priya Malik, Amandeep Khayal, Urooj Ashfaq and Amit Tandon bring the Indian edge, while global gems include Nigel Miles Thomas’s award-winning solo Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act, The Shakespeare Edit’s striking Macbeth adaptation and David Hoskin’s genre-blending Haunted House (mime, comedy, storytelling mash-up). True to Fringe spirit, the programme thrives on intimacy, invention and fearless creative risks.
Tickets are already live on Bookmyshow, with several shows sold out, signalling strong early buzz. Co-founders Steve Gove (of the 25-year-old Prague Fringe) and Simar Singh (UnErase Poetry) are steering the ship, united by the belief that Mumbai and India is primed for the Fringe model.
Steve Gove said, “Bringing Fringe to Mumbai has been a long-held dream. Cities around the world have embraced this model and watched it reshape their creative landscapes. Mumbai has the energy, the appetite and the talent to make this extraordinary.”
Simar Singh added, “The Fringe model gives artists complete freedom. It creates space for new voices and unexpected ideas to meet audiences directly. Mumbai deserves a platform like this.”
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society chief executive Tony Lankester chimed in, “Born in Scotland nearly 80 years ago, the Fringe has always stood for joy, openness and giving everyone a platform with minimal gatekeeping… We are delighted to see the Mumbai Fringe carry this same spirit forward.”
In a country bursting with artistic tradition, the Fringe’s arrival feels both overdue and electric, a chance for audiences to experience unfiltered, up-close performance that has quietly shaped modern theatre worldwide. Grab tickets on Bookmyshow before the best spots vanish. Mumbai’s creative margins just got a whole lot louder.
