Two years old, 19 wins: The Unicorn Films’ craft-first run
A two-year-old production house turned a familiar wedding ritual into an award-winning film, taking 19 LOA wins. Here is what marketers can steal.
There is a simple reason The Unicorn Films is ending the awards season with so much noise: it is only two years old. The Mumbai production house won Star of the Year at the afaqs! Foxglove Awards 2026, Best of Show at the Love of Advertising Awards (LOA), and then kept stacking wins across Asia Pacific and London.
At Foxglove, The Unicorn Films took eight Golds and two Silvers. Band Baaja Bitiya, made for Goel TMT, delivered six Golds and two Silvers, while Coca-Cola’s Laal Paar picked up two Golds. At LOA 2026, Band Baaja Bitiya won Best of Show, The Unicorn Films was named Best Production House, and Goel TMT took Best Brand. Across four films, the company finished with 19 wins and 12 finalist placements, including work for Mother Dairy and Parimatch.
The recognition didn’t stop in India
At the shots Awards Asia Pacific 2026, Band Baaja Bitiya won six awards across casting, charity/PSA, cinematography, copywriting, direction and editing. Avishek Ghosh was named Editor of the Year and Prosit Roy Director of the Year. The Unicorn Films also won Bronze for Production Company of the Year and Editing House of the Year. At the London International Awards, the film took two Silvers: one for Protecting Human Rights, Dignity & Freedom and one in Performance/Casting.
The film also received the inaugural Piyush Pandey Polaris Award at Good Ads Matter, where Band Baaja Bitiya and Aai Jaisi Mumbai together won 15 metals. Kyoorius recognised Band Baaja Bitiya, Laal Paar and Eveready Ultima Bahon, and at Goafest Abby Awards the work picked up six Film Craft shortlists, three Digital Craft shortlists and eight further shortlists.
Why Band Baaja Bitiya lands
The standout film uses a familiar Indian wedding ritual as its engine. A baraat is the procession that traditionally accompanies a groom to the bride’s home. In Band Baaja Bitiya, that same procession becomes the father’s welcome for a daughter returning after an abusive marriage. One inversion of a known script does the heavy lifting: audiences already understand the ritual, so they feel the new meaning immediately and the emotion follows.
The craft-and-collaboration frame
Founder Avishek Ghosh attributes the run to people, not just trophies. “For us, it has always started with people,” he says. The production crew includes producers Meenakshi and Falgun, line producer Laxman and post producer Dhruv, while directors Victor, Tiyash, Bikramjit, Souraj and Debanjolie bring different creative voices. The range across a TMT brand, a cola film, a dairy brand and a gaming brand suggests a team that chooses a language for each story rather than repeating a formula.
What marketers can steal
The lesson is not “make a wedding film.” It is to use culturally familiar material and give it an unexpected job.
- Find a ritual or social script your audience already knows, then invert one element to create surprise.
- Let one simple emotional reversal carry the film; do not over-explain it.
- Build a bench of collaborators so the work has range without losing craft.
Brand teams can apply the same logic to packaging, campaigns and retail experiences: start from a script people recognise, then flip its meaning in service of the brand.
Source: Afaqs!
