▶ Watch the case filmWhat I did
I was the creative lead and supervisor on Coke Studio Bharat. I shaped the core idea, getting a country to sing in a language it was losing, and oversaw the work from the song and the hook step to the rollout.
What was broken
India has 780 languages, and it has lost around 200 of them in the last two decades. Pop culture runs on Hindi and English, so regional languages rarely get airtime, and younger Indians drift away from them.
Gujarati is a good example. It is the language Gandhi spoke, and today it is spoken by less than 5% of India's population.
What we noticed
Languages survive when people use them for fun. Young Indians want their regional identity represented, and they spend their time on Instagram, YouTube and Moj, where regional content already thrives. So instead of asking a country to talk about saving languages, we decided to make it sing about one.
What we made
Sing to Remember turned Coke Studio Bharat into a platform for India's languages. The first big drop was Khalasi, a Gujarati song made with native artists Aditya Gadhvi and Achint Thakkar.
It wove traditional Gujarati folk into beats built for a hook step, so traditionalists and reel-makers could both claim it.
Press play and try not to do the hook step.
How it actually happened
Khalasi was released around Navratri, the season when Gujarat dances, and seeded with creators so the hook step spread across reels and shorts.
PR Pundit took the story to media in 18 states, which generated more than 1,000 editorial stories.
The bragging bit
Khalasi reached #8 on Spotify's global viral chart and was performed at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 opening ceremony. Across the Coke Studio Bharat programme, WARC reports a 1-point rise in market share and a 12-point lift in brand love.
“Khalasi is topping the charts and Aditya Gadhvi is winning hearts for his music.”
The metal
Cannes Lions 2024SilverPR · Single-Market Campaign- Cannes Lions 2024BronzeEntertainment Lions for Music · Diversity & Inclusion in Music
LIA 2024BronzeBranded Entertainment
Spikes Asia 2025SilverMusic · Use of Original Composition- Cannes Lions 2024ShortlistEntertainment Lions for Music · Use of Original Composition
- Spikes Asia 2025ShortlistMusic · Community (Influencer & Co-Creation)
- Spikes Asia 2025ShortlistEntertainment · Branded Content (Audio Content)
- Clio Awards 2025ShortlistAudio · Music
- WARC Media 100 2025Featured
Who made it
- Agency
- VML India
- PR
- PR Pundit
