MAM
Rhea Kapoor shines at Pantaloons’ festive edit launch
MUMBAI: Lights, camera, fashion! Rhea Kapoor just gave Mumbai a masterclass in festive style. Pantaloons, the fashion and lifestyle brand from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., unveiled its festive edit collection at the newly revamped R City mall store in Ghatkopar. The launch sparkled brighter with Hindi cinema style icon Rhea Kapoor curating statement-worthy looks and hosting an exclusive styling session for shoppers.
Known for her bold and eclectic sensibilities, Rhea showed how Pantaloons’ versatile range could seamlessly move from chic workwear to ethnic finery and casual party-ready fits. “I’ve always believed style is about self-expression, and Pantaloons’ new identity celebrates that beautifully,” she said, encouraging guests to mix, match and experiment.
The festive edit brings together jewel tones, luxe textures and playful silhouettes for every mood, from family gatherings to evening outings. The newly designed 30,000 square feet store itself has been reimagined as a fashion-first destination, with airy white interiors and over 20 brands on display, making style discovery both effortless and immersive.
Pantaloons CEO Sangeeta Tanwani called the relaunch “a fresh, elevated shopping experience that reflects our fashion-first philosophy,” adding that Rhea Kapoor’s involvement was the perfect fit for inspiring shoppers.
With 27 years of shaping India’s style journey, Pantaloons is marking a new chapter, one where festive fashion meets fresh retail experiences, and individuality takes centre stage.
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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.
