Digital
Shalimar Paints & blockbuster films partner for festive home upgrades
Mumbai: Shalimar Paints, a prominent name in the Indian paint industry with over 120 years of legacy, has launched co-branded promotional videos for this festive season’s in-film promotions, focusing on home upgrades. This collaboration highlights premium products, Hero Emulsion and Zero Damp Advance, featured in films like Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, Singham Again, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
As families celebrate special moments, Shalimar Paints encourages homeowners to transform their spaces with its product range. The Hero five-in-one Emulsion offers vibrant colors and washability, allowing homeowners to refresh their walls. Zero Damp Advance provides moisture protection, preventing dampness and fungal growth. Additionally, Xtra Tough ensures durability with a finish that withstands everyday wear and diverse weather conditions. The co-branded promotional videos effectively communicate a message of style and resilience, inspiring audiences to revamp their homes.
“Our partnership with these blockbuster films reflects our commitment to delivering superior standards and innovation that enhance living spaces,” said Shalimar Paints director of sales & marketing Kuldip Raina. “Our Hero five-in-one Emulsion provides a rich palette of colors with excellent coverage, whereas Zero Damp Advance keeps walls pristine and vibrant over time, and Xtra tough delivers a robust finish that withstands everyday wear and diverse weather conditions. This festive season, through these exciting partnerships, we invite you to discover our innovative range that promises to transform your spaces into havens of joy and warmth, capturing the true essence of home.”
As part of the home protect waterproofing range, Damp Advance enhances wall aesthetics and helps keep surfaces up to 10° cooler. It comes with a 12-year performance warranty and effectively addresses dampness, cracks, flaking, fungal growth, and efflorescence, ensuring walls remain appealing even in harsh conditions.
Hero five-in-one Emulsion features a range of vibrant colors, a high sheen finish, washability, stain resistance, Zero VOC content, and anti-viral properties. This combination ensures durability and a health-conscious living environment. The Hero range has quickly become a top choice for consumers seeking quality, affordable paint solutions.
Xtra Tough is a premium emulsion utilizing advanced pure acrylic technology with a silicone additive for durability. It withstands extreme weather and maintains its appearance over time. Eco-friendly and free from harmful additives like lead and mercury, it provides a safe, long-lasting solution for both interiors and exteriors, emphasising sustainability.
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
