In a corporate culture where 70-hour workweeks are glorified and burnout is worn as a badge of honour, Shark Tank India’s latest ad campaign offers a refreshing and biting counter-narrative. As the show prepares for its fifth season, Sony LIV has launched a bold new film that blends satire, social commentary, and self-awareness to promote registrations. Made by the creative agency Moonshot, which is the same company responsible for its S3 Corporate Bidaai ad. The campaign opens with a mockumentary-style setup featuring fictional CEOs and startup founders, each airing their grievances in deadpan interviews. With a panoramic view of the slums in a fictional city, which is being overlooked by a sad CEO who “has” to live in India. The tone is sombre, but the content is anything but. One business leader laments that he must now carry his own golf clubs after his project manager quit. Another expresses disbelief that he has to physically come into the office because “everyone keeps leaving to start startups.” The humour is exaggerated, but the insight is clear: the Indian workforce is quietly, and increasingly, rejecting traditional career paths in favour of entrepreneurship.
The film then takes a pointed turn. In a spoof on motivational messaging, a self-styled ‘guru’ extols the virtues of working 70 hours a week, a clear reference to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s much-discussed remarks about young Indians needing to put in longer hours. The satire escalates: work during your wedding, work during your funeral, work until AI replaces you. It’s absurd, but strikingly familiar. Where most campaigns would now offer a solution, this one leans into reverse psychology. Instead of directly encouraging viewers to register for Shark Tank India, the voiceover mockingly urges them to stay committed to their jobs and their emotionally fragile CEOs. The message is clear: the startup world awaits, and it might just be more rewarding than endless overtime and KPIs.
This is not the first time Shark Tank India has tapped into the anxieties of India’s salaried class. The now-iconic “Corporate Bidaai” campaign for Season 3 similarly challenged conventional workplace thinking. This time, the commentary feels sharper, more topical, and more relevant to a younger generation that is increasingly disillusioned with corporate monotony.
Since its debut in 2021, Shark Tank India has cemented itself as a cultural force. Sony reports that the show has showcased 741 business pitches, sealed 351 deals, and facilitated Rs 293 crore in funding across its four seasons. With Season 5, the platform is set to scale further, both in reach and impact. The new campaign film is now live on YouTube and has already begun making waves among both professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs. It promotes Shark Tank India Season 5, which will stream on Sony LIV and air on Sony Entertainment Television, with registrations currently open exclusively on the Sony LIV app.