For Subhajit Mukherjee, serving on the Entertainment Lions for Music jury at Cannes Lions 2026 was more than an opportunity to evaluate award-worthy work—it was a masterclass in how creativity is perceived across cultures.
The Mumbai-based music composer and sound designer was the only music composer on a jury that brought together creative directors, record label executives, artist managers, streaming platform representatives and producers from around the world.
“The perspectives that came to the table—and the conclusions we eventually arrived at—were truly global. It was fascinating to see how people from different cultures and backgrounds reacted to the same piece of work and what they valued in it,” he says.
Watch the full interview here:
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Despite Cannes Lions’ reputation for long days of intense debate, Mukherjee describes his jury room experience as unusually collaborative.
“I had heard from a lot of fellow creatives from India, as well as jurors who had served in previous years, that the jury room can sometimes get very tense and heated,” he says. “But our room was the best category. We had the best jury members and the best president, Matt Murphy from 72andSunny.”
According to Mukherjee, Murphy’s leadership ensured discussions remained constructive even when opinions differed. “There were a few situations where things became a little tense, but he would make everything so easy and polite. It was really an eye-opening experience, and also a brain-opening one.”
However, when it came to India’s performance in the category, Mukherjee offers a candid assessment. India secured a Silver Lion in Entertainment Lions for Music in 2025 for Coca-Cola's ‘The Girl Who Played The Tutari’, but this year failed to secure even a shortlist in the category.
Asked where Indian entries fell short, Mukherjee doesn’t mince words. “The few Indian pieces of work that came my way, if I had to compare them with the other work in the category, I genuinely felt that, creatively and execution-wise, they just weren’t there yet,” he says. “At least not when compared to some of the other pieces of work.”
While emphasising that he could not afford to be biased towards his home country, he believes Indian work lacked a certain spark that distinguished the strongest global entries. For Mukherjee, the issue wasn’t necessarily about brand integration or technical execution. Instead, it was about the emotional impact that great creative work generates.
“It was more about that feeling you get when you see a piece of work and think, ‘I wish I had been a part of this. Why didn’t I think of that?’ Or simply, ‘wow’,” he explains.
He points to Indian campaigns from previous years that generated that reaction internationally, including work he was personally involved with for MP Tourism, as well as campaigns for Jindal Steel that continued to be remembered and discussed by global industry professionals.
“There has to be a piece of work that comes along and makes you go, ‘wow, this is it’. I just didn’t see or hear anything like that from our country this year,” he says.
Yet Mukherjee remains optimistic about India’s future prospects. “Do we have the potential? Absolutely. In fact, we may have more potential than a lot of other countries,” he says. “But this year, maybe we just didn’t push ourselves enough.”
