MAM
Vimal Singh, Varun Khullar pair up for Happy mcgarrybowen’s Gurgaon team
MUMBAI: Happy mcgarrybowen, the creative idea shop from Dentsu Aegis Network, has appointed Vimal Singh as senior creative director and Varun Khullar as creative director for its Gurgaon creative team. Singh moves from Ogilvy, Gurgaon while Khullar moves from Happy mcgarrybowen Bangalore after a three year stint at the HQ to bolster operations at Happy mcgarrybowen Gurgaon.
Singh started his career in advertising 14 years ago with Ogilvy Calcutta. Since then, he’s worked with various agencies like McCann Delhi, Contract advertising, and has done two stints with Ogilvy Gurgaon. He’s worked on numerous award-winning ideas for brands like Coca-Cola, Fanta, Mother Dairy, Domino’s Pizza, Google, Phillips, WWF, and many more. He’s no stranger to national and international accolades such as Cannes, Clio, Lurzer’s Archive, Envies and Goa Fest. His classy yet disruptive style and happy demeanour make him a perfect fit for Happy mcgarrybowen Gurgaon.
On his new role Singh said, “I’ve always loved the kind of work Happy mcgarrybowen has done over a decade and when the opportunity to join the team came along, it didn’t take me a moment to grab it. And just a couple of days with the energetic, fun, happy shiny folks here, one realizes how aptly the place is called ‘Happy’ mcgarrybowen and how that shines in their work. I’m really excited about my role and have happily dived headfirst into it.”
Khullar graduated with an honours degree in Economics, but then decided that it was not his cup of tea. Khullar as been in the advertising world for the best part of the last decade with stints at Ogilvy, McCann, Creativeland Asia and currently at Happy mcgarrybowen. Over the years he has won various awards and handled a wide array of clients like Sprite, Appy Fizz, Flipkart, Honda, Ola, Myntra, KFC, Pizza Hut, Godrej Aer, and many more.
Commenting on his appointment Khullar says “I’ve been a part of the bucktoothed brigade for a good three years now and each has been more interesting and challenging than the previous. I joined the Bangalore office as a glorified daydreamer who helps big brands sell their stuff. But the forging torches at Happy mcgarrybowen moulded and chiseled me into something resembling a creative director. And so I felt I was ready to carry the happy flag and their way of working to the newly minted Gurgaon office. The clients are new, the team is new but it has the same vibe. It is an ever-changing, ever-evolving organism that’s full of surprises. Like the opportunity of writing a quote for my first press release.”
Co-founder and CEO Kartik Iyer said, “It has been a little over six months since we started operations in Gurgaon. The response from the market and the results have been extremely encouraging. We are very happy to have the quality of talent that Vimal and Varun bring to the already energetic team at Happy mcgarrybowen Gurgaon. The fact that they have worked together before shows in the chemistry of how they work together. I look forward to them pushing the envelope of Happy’s creative product. We wish them all the best and look forward to many more successes at Happy mcgarrybowen Gurgaon.”
Happy mcgarrybowen, Gurgaon currently handles the business of Suzuki Two wheelers, MG Motor Company and Jabong.com
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.
