MAM
Hrithik Roshan to endorse Global Goals’ World’s Largest Lesson campaign
MUMBAI: Indian film star Hrithik Roshan has been named as the India ambassador for The World’s Largest Lesson, an initiative launched by the Global Goals campaign and UNICEF.
The World’s Largest Lesson aims to teach children in over 100 countries about the new Sustainable Development Goals that will be adopted by the UN General Assembly later this month. It is part of the campaign to tell everyone about The Global Goals and will engage children and young people in the global effort to build a more sustainable future for everyone.
Roshan joins other international public figures such as PLAN global ambassador Freida Pinto, Dani Alves, Kolo Touré, Neymar Jr., Nobel peace prize laureate Malala Yousafzai; UNICEF ambassadors Nancy Ajram, Serena Williams and Eminent Advocate for UNICEF Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.
With India having the world’s youngest population, children and young people will be most affected by the implementation of the goals.
“The World’s Largest Lesson will do more than teach children about the global goals. It will engage them in the effort to achieve those goals – educating them about the challenges that are shaping their futures and encouraging them to drive change in their own communities. Young people can help achieve the global goals by holding their leaders accountable for the promises they are making – and by holding themselves accountable for building a better future for everyone,” said UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake.
The World’s Largest Lesson was held in classrooms on every continent during the week of 28 September. A potential 500 million girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 14 got the chance to learn about the Global Goals, which range from ending extreme poverty for all people everywhere, to tackling climate change, and giving all children the opportunity to gain a quality primary and secondary education.
The campaign is also supported by Indian NGOs The Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Specially created lesson plans include an animated film by author and education expert Sir Ken Robinson that introduces the Global Goals, and a downloadable comic book by Josh Elder and Karl Kesel.
Along with Roshan, other prominent public figures like Yousafzai have recorded their own introduction to The World’s Largest Lesson as well. The animated film invites students to consider the creative superpower they have and use it to help change the world for the better. Additional lesson plans and information are available for teachers to select based on the themes most relevant for their pupils.
“The World’s Largest Lesson is a fantastic opportunity to tell all children, everywhere what the Global Goals are and how they can play their part to make sure they are achieved. It would be wonderful if all teachers could make sure the World’s Largest Lesson is taught at their school. By making the Global Goals famous we can give them the best chance of working around the world – and help make us the first generation to end extreme poverty, the most determined generation in history to end injustice and inequality, and the last generation to be threatened by climate change,” said Global Goals campaign founder Richard Curtis.
Roshan added, “As a father, I believe that all children should have access to good education and through this education they learn how to take care of their health. In order to achieve the best, they need to be fit and healthy. It enables children to push their extreme. These are fundamental rights that every child deserves hence I champion Goal 3 Good Health.”
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
