MAM
Leo Burnett India elevates Sainath Saraban to NCD
MUMBAI: Leo Burnett Group India CCO Rajdeepak Das today announced the elevation of Sainath Saraban as the national creative director (NCD). As part of his new role, Sai (as he is fondly known), will oversee and take care of the Chennai market as well as key national clients. He will continue to be based in Delhi as he assumes this new responsibility.
Leo Burnett Group CEO Surabh Varma said, “Sai is one of the best creative talents in The Leo Group today. His thorough and in-depth understanding of the target audience coupled with popular culture comes through clearly in the great work that he creates for our clients. I look forward to seeing him make magic in the Chennai market and on our key national clients.”
Leo Burnett CCO Rajdeepak Das added, “Sai is definitely one of the most promising talents of Leo Burnett India and undoubtedly one of the good human beings I have come across. We want the greatness to spread to one more office. Cheers to Sai.”
On his new role Sai said, “Over the last nine years, I have grown with the agency and the agency has grown with me. Now it’s time to take my role to the next level. I see challenges and opportunities alike and along with Saurabh and Raj, I look forward to what lies ahead. The ‘Change Everything’ philosophy is something we all believe in and it holds true for the kind of work we create and how we create it.”
Sai, who joined Leo Burnett in 2005, began his career with JWT Delhi, where he worked for five years on brands like Boost, Pizza Hut, Hero Cycles and CNBC. This was followed by a brief stint at McCann Erickson after which he joined JWT Bangalore where he worked on Kingfisher, Red Label Tea, McDowell’s and was a part of the team that won Levi’s and Nike. At Leo Burnett, Delhi, some of the memorable work that Sai has created are on brands such as Thumbs Up, Maaza, Minute Maid, Perfetti, Samsung to name a few.
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.
