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Tag: Sejal Shah

  • Nawazuddin Siddiqui battles corruption in Zee5’s new film Costao

    Nawazuddin Siddiqui battles corruption in Zee5’s new film Costao

    MUMBAI: Zee5 has unveiled the trailer for its much-anticipated original film Costao, a gritty drama set against the backdrop of 1990s Goa. The film follows the fearless customs officer Costao Fernandes, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as he dares to challenge an empire fuelled by smuggling, corruption, and fear.

    Directed by debutant Sejal Shah, Costao promises a powerful narrative of courage, sacrifice, and the brutal cost of defying a corrupt system. Joining Nawazuddin in the cast are Priya Bapat, Kishore Kumar G, Gagan Dev Riar, and Hussain Dalal. The film is set to premiere on Zee5 on 1 May.

    The trailer introduces viewers to Costao’s unrelenting fight against the underworld and his own system, showcasing heart-pounding action and emotional depth. When a deadly confrontation with a notorious smuggler’s brother ignites a high-stakes manhunt, Costao finds himself hunted and betrayed. Battling alone for justice, family, and redemption, he embodies audacious courage and sharp instincts. As the stakes rise, the question looms can he survive the system he dares to oppose and at what cost?

    A Zee5 spokesperson commented, “At Zee5, we remain steadfast in our mission to tell stories that challenge norms and ignite meaningful dialogue. Real-life stories like Costao hold immense significance for us as they reflect courage, resilience, and truths that deserve to be seen and heard. The film is a strong addition to our expanding original film slate, with a story that is not only compelling but also thought-provoking. Our collaboration with the makers reflects a shared vision for delivering powerful narratives that go beyond the expected. As we continue to focus on differentiated storytelling, we are proud to back films like Costao that leave a deep and lasting impression on viewers.”

    Producer Vinod Bhanushali added, “We’ve always loved creating untold stories that are as interesting as they are unique, and Costao is the perfect example of that. With Nawazuddin in the lead, you know you’re in for something special. His performance as Costao is pure magic raw, intense, and layered in a way that will keep you hooked from the very first second. After Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, we felt Costao deserved a platform like Zee5 for the story to reach the right audience. Our shared vision for authentic storytelling perfectly aligned, allowing us to craft a movie that challenges conventions and surprises at every turn. As a movie Costao demands your attention, and trust me, you won’t want to look away. We’re beyond excited for you to experience this rollercoaster when it drops on May 1!”

    Speaking about her debut, director Shah said, “Costao is the story of an officer who risked his life to do the right thing and paid the price for it. It’s raw, intense, and full of moments that will leave you questioning how far one person can go in the name of duty. Bringing this world to life has been a challenge and a privilege, and I couldn’t have asked for a better actor than Nawazuddin to play Costao. He brings an unmatched authenticity and complexity to the character. Zee5 has always backed bold, powerful storytelling, and I’m excited to collaborate with them. I can’t wait for audiences to experience Costao a story that deserves to be told.”

    Nawazuddin reflected on his role, saying, “Costao is not just a story about a customs officer fighting against a ruthless smuggling empire it’s about the cost of standing up to an entire system built on corruption and betrayal. There is a dialoug in the film where the character says ‘Humare society mein sabko chahiye ki Officer honest ho aur brave ho… lekin Ghar mein Nahi’; it’s so true. Costao’s courage in the face of unbeatable odds reflects this perfectly. His battle is not only against criminals but against a system that tries to break him at every turn. I can’t wait for viewers to experience the explosive twists, raw emotion, and relentless intensity that Costao brings. It’s a story that will keep you at the edge, questioning what’s right, what’s wrong, and what one man is willing to sacrifice for justice. Don’t miss it; Costao drops on May 1”

    Produced by Vinod, Kamlesh Bhanushali, Bhavesh Mandalia, Shah, Shyam Sunder, and Faizuddin Siddiqui, and written by Mandalia and Meghna Srivastava, Costao is poised to be a must-watch thriller.

    Watch the trailer here.

  • Publicis OOH India launches new initiative ‘FlexForward’

    Publicis OOH India launches new initiative ‘FlexForward’

    Mumbai: Publicis OOH India, part of Publicis Groupe India, launched a new green initiative, FlexForward, aimed at transforming the lifecycle of vinyl flexes used in the Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising industry. This programme addresses the pressing environmental challenges of billboard waste, offering an innovative, first-of-its-kind solution that benefits both communities and the planet.

    Flex is a printable plastic material used to create banners, hoardings, and other promotional materials. In partnership with leading NGOs such as Goonj, FlexForward collects post-campaign flexes and repurposes them into eco-friendly utility items, including rain tarps, tote bags, and women’s utility pouches. These items are then distributed among marginalised communities, promoting sustainability while creating a positive social impact.

    The creative strategy behind FlexForward revolves around the concept of superhero flexes, symbolising transformation, and change. The initiative highlights the community’s active role in workshops where the collected flexes are cleaned, cut, and transformed into practical products.

    How FlexForward creates change  

    The initiative has already made significant strides in reducing waste and promoting sustainability:

    Waste repurposing: Over seven lakh sq. ft. of flex in Mumbai and five lakh sq. ft. in Delhi have been collected and transformed, preventing tonnes of waste from reaching landfills.  

    Carbon footprint reduction: By repurposing these materials, FlexForward has substantially decreased emissions, contributing to a cleaner environment.  

    Community empowerment: The initiative engages local communities in the collection, transformation, and distribution process, creating awareness and fostering collective action.  

    PMX India managing director Sejal Shah said, “FlexForward brings in sustainability through reuse of the materials for billboards and blends innovation with social responsibility. At the core of our business matrix and goals, is an unwavering commitment to environmental protection, sustainability, positive social change and progress. FlexForward is yet another manifestation of this commitment, taking a bold step in redefining sustainability in advertising. It’s not just about reducing waste; it’s about creating a green movement and empowering communities. This initiative is a testament to the transformative impact of collective action in making a meaningful difference.”

  • Publicis Groupe South Asia elevates Lalatendu Das to CEO, Publicis Media South Asia

    Publicis Groupe South Asia elevates Lalatendu Das to CEO, Publicis Media South Asia

    Publicis Groupe South Asia announced today that it has elevated Lalatendu Das (LD), the current CEO of Performics India, to the newly created role of CEO of Publicis Media South Asia. Continuing to report to Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya, LD will work closely with Zenith India CEO Jai Lala; Starcom India CEO Rathi Gangappa; PMX India MD Sejal Shah and other media leaders.

    LD joined Publicis Groupe India in early 2022 as CEO of Performics India and in these three years he has further added marquee accounts, incubated innovative products and pivoted Performics India to top place in performance marketing and end-to-end digital solutions. Before joining Publicis Groupe South Asia, LD spent nearly a decade at McKinsey as a Partner and founding member of McKinsey Digital Labs in Asia Pacific. He co-led the McKinsey Digital/Technology practice, focusing on new digital business builds, customer journey transformations, and advanced analytics-led transformations. LD has also held major operational roles at Tata Consultancy Services for over a decade. An engineer and Postgraduate in Business Management from IIM Ahmedabad, LD has 25 years of experience.

    Anupriya Acharya said, “LD is a remarkable leader with established credentials. He has led Performics India to great heights in the past three years. His extensive background in consulting, digital-led transformation, and large-scale operations across India and global markets made him uniquely qualified to drive significant value for our media clients. We are really excited to have him take on this new mandate.”

    Lalatendu Das said, “I am delighted to be leading Publicis Media South Asia at an exciting, pivotal, and transformative time.  It has scaled capabilities across strategy, insights and analytics, data and technology, and a strong and established portfolio of brands in its client roster. I look forward to keeping the growth momentum going, delivering industry-first offerings and tangible, exponential growth for clients. The canvas is vast, and the opportunities are huge.”  

    In a separate development, Publicis Media Services South Asia CEO Tanmay Mohanty is moving on to pursue new opportunities. He was overseeing the media operations of Zenith India and Starcom India in addition to the Media Product & Solutions Portfolio.

    Anupriya Acharya said, “I would like to thank Tanmay for his contributions which have been invaluable. During his tenure with us, our media services and capabilities have not only scaled up tremendously with some of our biggest clients, but they have become the best offerings in the market. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”

  • Publicis Groupe creates new entity ‘Publicis In-Motion’

    Publicis Groupe creates new entity ‘Publicis In-Motion’

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe India has created ‘Publicis In-Motion’, its specialist entity focusing on building brand salience and creating experiences and a strong engagement with consumers, while they are quite literally, on the move. The entity will see the coming together of Arc Worldwide, Solutions and Ecosys OOH and will be powered by data and tech-enabled insights to deliver execution at scale across the Groupe.

    Praveen Kumar Vadhera has been onboarded in the newly created role of Head of Publicis In-Motion, South Asia. In this role, all the teams in Arc Worldwide, Solutions and Ecosys will report into him and he will work closely with Sejal Shah, Head of Publicis Media Exchange and the Executive Sponsor on Ecosys.

    Vadhera comes with over 25 years of experience across brand building, out-of-home, technology, shopper marketing and experiential brand intervention, and has held leadership positions across key networks including WPP and Omnicom. He joins Publicis Groupe from Interspace Solutions, where he was the CEO. During his stint at Interspace, an entrepreneurial venture, he was deep-rooted in delivering bespoke media agnostic business solutions for brands.

    Prior to joining Interspace,  Vadhera  spent 14 years with the WPP group from 2001 as Country Head RMG David with a mandate to expand the Ogilvy Group OOH offering moving onto Bates Chi and Partners' 141 Wall Street heading the Retail, Shopper, Experiential & OOH function. He was instrumental in driving the growth of 141 Wall Street to become the largest OOH specialist agency in the country.     

    Over the years,  Vadhera has worked with renowned brands such as P&G, Colgate Palmolive, Vodafone, Reebok, Fiat, Samsung, Unilever, Star Network, Idea Cellular, GSK, amongst others.

    Vadhera is a passionate and committed theatre and cultural activist and also an ardent fan of all things design and sciences (including technology).

    Says Sejal Shah, “With fragmenting consumer attention and reducing attention spans, there is a growing need to connect with consumers at every touch-point in an engaging manner. With strength of 150 people and capabilities spanning across activation, shopper marketing, retail design and strategy, OOH and ambient marketing, without doubt Publicis In-Motion will provide our clients unmatched ambient and experiential capabilities. And Praveen brings in excellent and demonstrated credentials across this entire gamut of services. Delighted to have him on board”

    Publicis Groupe, South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya says, “ Publicis In-Motion is an effort to make our Power of One offerings even more impactful and substantive for our clients where they can leverage all experiential capabilities at one go. We have highly specialized teams under each capability but the synergized structure will make it simpler and speedier for the clients to leverage it. We expect much momentum in this space as clients move to create more impactful engagements with their customers on the ground.”

    Vadhera says “Am very delighted to join Publicis Groupe at a time when there is so much momentum and an amazing diversity of skills across creative, tech and media. I look forward to working closely with the different teams across the Groupe and leveraging their expertise and creating synergies across domains in strengthening current and creating new offerings in Publicis In-Motion.”

  • Publicis Media Exchange appoints Sejal Shah as managing partner and head

    Publicis Media Exchange appoints Sejal Shah as managing partner and head

    MUMBAI: Publicis Media India today announced Sejal Shah as managing partner and head of Publicis Media Exchange (PMX – Mainline) which is the central investment practice of PM.

    Shah brings with her more than 21 years of experience and also worked with Publicis IPG and WPP across functions such as client management, planning, buying, research, operations and automation. Prior to this, Shah was as trading head, South Asia for Unilever at Mindshare Fulcrum. She was also part of the founding Publicis Trading team.

    Commenting on her appointment Publicis Media India CEO Anupriya Acharya said, “We are very happy to have Sejal join us in this critical role. With her rich experience, Sejal will ensure that the complex media environment is well navigated and negotiated for PM client. She will try to bring in not only fresh approaches to deal making as and where required, but also focus on overall value creation for brands including content, in-programme and other such initiatives.”

    On her new role, Publicis Media India managing partner and head of Publicis Media Sejal Shah said, “I am thrilled to be with Publicis Media at a time when their growth momentum is at an all-time high and they are well poised to further build on it. Publicis Media client roster not only has some of the savviest marketers but also is very diverse with a strong presence on digital and future facing-streams. It gives us an opportunity to focus beyond the traditional on ROI and effectiveness.”

    In her new role, Sejal will be responsible for driving media investments, alliances and partnerships, strategic thinking and direction for all PM clients across markets.

    Publicis Media is one of the top three media-buying groups of the country, handling billings of over $1.3 billion and a plum roster of clients such as Nestlé, Dabur, Parle Products, Kraft Heinz, Ola, Fiat, Oppo, Citibank and many more.

  • SC gives Sanjay Dutt another four week breather before returning to jail

    SC gives Sanjay Dutt another four week breather before returning to jail

    MUMBAI:With reference to Sanjay Dutt‘s application seeking a six-month extension of his 18 April deadline, the Supreme Court has given him four more weeks‘ time to complete his films before returning to jail.

    The judges responding to Dutt‘s appeal said that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds. "We extend the time by four weeks from tomorrow. It is made clear that no further extension will be granted," they informed.

    On Monday, while filing the application for a six-month extension, Dutt had said that seven films with a budget of Rs 2.78 billion were under various stages of production and it needed 196 acting days to complete.

    The actor is currently working in double shifts to wrap up the three projects on hand – Peekay, Zanjeer and Polocigiri, before surrendering himself.

    Besides this, he will also be shooting for the cameo he plays in home production Hasmukh Pighal Gaya. The film is being directed by Sejal Shah and has a bunch of newcomers.

  • Sports broadcasters to take home Rs 3 bn less in ad rev this year

    Sports broadcasters to take home Rs 3 bn less in ad rev this year

    MUMBAI: The absence of the cricket World Cup, a less heavy calendar for Dhoni and his boys and the uncertainty over the Indian team‘s future performance could result in ad revenue for the sports broadcasters trimming by around Rs 3 billion in 2012.

    Sports broadcasters earned an ad revenue of Rs 20 billion in 2011 calendar year, triggered by the Indian Premier League (IPL) that fetched Rs 9 billion and the cricket World Cup that is estimated to have got Rs 4 billion. Though the IPL will still play out this year, it is unlikely to get a major hike. Efforts are being made to push hockey but the increase will be from a very low base and would not make up for the cricket World Cup. Even the Olympics is a very small revenue earner for the sports broadcasters.

    The T20 World Cup, to be held this year, will provide a cushion but only to some extent.

    Says Vivaki Exchange executive VP Sejal Shah, “The ODI World Cup is a miss this year. The T20 World Cup will help to some extent. But the loss from sports will move to other genres chasing similar mass and male audiences.”

    Another issue is the current performance of the Indian team. “If India continues to perform badly, then yes ad spends will come down significantly. We will need to wait and watch what happens in the upcoming ODI and IPL formats,” adds Shah.

    For advertisers, the return on investment (ROI) is dependent on the audience that they want to chase and the objective of their campaigns. “If cost efficiency alone is the objective, then GECs (general entertainment channels) and news will be better ROI vehicles. If mass and male audiences are the objective, then there is nothing better than a cricket platform to establish the communication,” states Shah.

    Cricket still remains the best vehicle to cut across geographies and SECs for male skewed brands, she adds.

    Madison Media Group CEO Punitha Arumugham agrees that cricket is no more a special programme but a part of the calendar for any major brand. However, if cricket is not performing, she cautions that there are enough opportunities on television and print. “Ratings is going to decide how much money people are going to put on it, and what cost they are going to pay for it. If cricket doesn‘t score, the money will go back to other mediums and digital,” she says.

    Cricket advertising depends a lot on non FMCG companies like telecom and automobiles. “In this economic scenario, non FMCG will spend slightly lesser this year. Automobile, because of their new launches, and telecom categories may still spend well. However in the current economic climate, the financial category and consumer durables are likely to lower down their spends,” says Arumugham.

    Due to their high costs, advertisers have been pressing for performance guarantee deals going forward. A media expert, however, feels that this is unlikely to happen unless there is a huge mismatch between what a channel is charging and what a client is willing to pay.

    “A lot also depends on the state of the economy. If the economy turns for the better, then more brands will launch campaigns towards the latter part of the year,” the expert opines.