"Technically, this was my first campaign after joining Talented. There was no external pressure, but there was definitely pressure in my head. When I joined, my pitch was that I would bring ‘Dilli ka Dil’ to the agency. Talented is Bangalore-based, and much of its work carries English and South Indian cultural codes. I felt there was space for a more North Indian, hinterland-rooted perspective.
Soon after I joined in June, a Raksha Bandhan brief landed one of those ‘Rakhi hai, kuch karna hai’ moments. But it was immediately clear to me that even though Tanishq is a jewellery brand, we couldn’t limit the story to gifting. Tanishq has always stood for progressive womanhood, so the bar was already high.
We began by questioning the idea of protection itself. Raksha Bandhan is usually shown as a brother physically protecting his sister, but that’s not how it always works. Often, the sister is 20 while the brother is just seven or eight. This led us to rethink protection as financial security, and that’s where we landed on ‘Haq Tyag’ (the unspoken practice, especially in North India, where women quietly give up their rights to family property after marriage). It’s a reality most people have seen up close, which made the insight feel deeply personal and universal.
The idea slowly evolved into something larger. It wasn’t just about jewellery or Rakhi anymore; it became about the question every woman carries at some point: ‘Where is my home?’ Before marriage, it’s your father’s house. After marriage, your husband’s. But in a patrilineal society, where does the daughter really ‘belong?’
As we developed the script further, the film turned into a coming-of-age story. That’s when we decided to build it as a sequel to ‘Fathers Written by Daughters’, a Tanishq Father’s Day ad spot. This time, it became ‘Brothers Written by Sisters’. The setting remained the same, the same house and veranda but the story shifted to the brother’s point of view. If a daughter can school her father, she can certainly school her brother, too.
The film’s strength lay in the sibling banter; nothing felt manufactured. From serving juice to dividing jewellery equally, the moments came straight from real homes. As children, siblings are equals, untouched by hierarchy, and those moments speak louder than any speech. It was also important that the brother didn’t feel weak or overly polished. We wanted an aspirational feminist man, empathetic, but with a spine, someone men could see themselves in, and women could feel drawn to.
Interestingly, this wasn’t a hard idea to sell to Tanishq. Production-wise, this was a brand-love film, not a product-led one, so budgets were modest. But the idea didn’t need scale. We didn’t need celebrities or influencers. The strength of the narrative carried the film. From brief to release, everything came together in under 30 days, with a single, exhausting but fulfilling day of shooting.
When the film went live, the response was strong. The impact was evident in the messages it received rather than the view counts. People from India and overseas reached out, industry professionals responded, platforms like Youth Ki Awaaz shared it organically, and it circulated on WhatsApp as a story rather than an advertisement.
The moment that truly stayed with me was when the ad film won the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Laadli, an award you don’t even submit for. They simply watch the work released during the year and recognise what genuinely strengthens narratives around women. That recognition made everything feel worth it.
Looking back, my biggest learning was simple: don’t make ads, make content. We didn’t sell jewellery or moralise, no lectures, just real conversations between a brother and sister. That’s how change truly happens, in small, everyday moments.”
About Tanima Kohli
Tanima Kohli is a Creative at Talented, where she has taken on leadership responsibilities across key accounts including Coca-Cola, Meta, HUL, and Tanishq. Before joining Talented, Kohli worked at Enormous from 2022 to 2025, focusing on brand narratives. She began her career at ADK Fortune (now VML), where she worked from 2018 to 2022.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
- Mondelez Cadbury Dairy Milk: ‘New Neighbour’
- Chicago Hearing Society: ‘Caption With Intention’
Best Campaigns
Urban Company: ‘Chhote Sapne?’
Mohey: ‘Mohey Rang Do Cerulean’
Meta: ‘Your business deserves better’
Skyscanner: ‘Launch campaign for India’
(As told to Yash Bhatia)
