MAM
Dentsu Impact, My Choices Foundation launch digital campaign for ‘Mothers Without A Choice’
MUMBAI: While the world was busy celebrating motherhood during this lockdown with mushy photos, cute videos and beautiful cards, a darker truth was being ignored.
There are thousands of women who have been forced to become mothers as a result of this lockdown in their so-called ‘safe’ places called homes. With no choice and no way out, they face a future, which has been thrust upon them.
To get the world talking about this issue, Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, conceptualised and executed a digital video, which puts the spotlight on one of the biggest and yet, least understood casualties of this Covid2019-pandemic lockdown.
YouTube Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xWsZFlIt1w&feature=youtu.be
Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/MyChoicesFoundation/videos/2458025744439281/
My Choices Foundation aims to give women and girls the choice to live free from violence, abuse and exploitation. The National Commission for Women has reported a sharp increase in cases of domestic violence, rape and attempted rape from the final week of March 2020 onwards. While the lockdown is a necessary step to prevent the spread of Covid2019, it also means that women, who are victims of sexual domestic assaults, are now locked inside the house with their abusers. The brief was to highlight this sharp increase worldwide because of the lockdown.
In these times of crisis, home was meant to be the safest place for everyone. And yet, it turned out to become the most dangerous place for many. Several cases of domestic abuse and marital rape are being reported almost every day, and as a result, the numbers of unwanted pregnancies has surged manifold. Women have become mothers not out of love, but by force, and without a choice. As the world celebrated Mother’s Day, its eyes needed to be opened to the plight of millions of women trapped in a world of violence inside their homes. The aim was to (We wanted to) create awareness about them, who never had the choice of not becoming mothers, unlike the ones who were receiving all the love on this special occasion.
Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, conceptualised and executed a digital video to highlight the problem. The video shows women staring at the camera, unable to speak a word. But despite the silence, what we see is anger, angst and suffocation. The sound design was to enhance the pain that these women have to endure. We hear the claustrophobic pain these women from various walks of life go through every day. The voice over is meant to be their inner voice pleading for us to help them and prevent them from becoming mothers by force.
My Choices Foundation founder Elca Grobler said, “The video, from the opening, makes anyone who watches it feel unsettled. The agonising voice of the victims sends chills down one’s spine, and it evokes a sense of torment. It is brilliant in captivating the intensity of the affliction brought onto the victims by their abusers. This leaves one infuriated and with a feeling of disgust at what vulnerable women have to endure. Although it is extremely difficult to fully know the pain that these women go through, it sends across an immensely strong message – let us not be silent! We feel fortunate to be able to help victims by providing access to our national toll-free helpline number. Each one who reaches out to us, will be referred to one of our counsellors to assist and intervene in the sexual abuse, as well as connect them with the nearest police station.”
Dentsu Impact national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy added, “We used Mother’s Day as the setting for this communication. The reason being, while the world wants hope and celebration during the lockdown, some women are dreading every single day of it. This lockdown is nothing less than a living hell for them. The prediction of seven million unwanted pregnancies is alarming. If we cannot help these women, we would be doing nothing to stop seven million innocent children from being born into unhappy households. With this communication, we aim to make people and authorities recognise the fear with which these women live. And give them a chance to live life on their terms.”
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.
