In a world of fleeting reels and scrolling attention spans, a thirty-second story that can make you laugh, cry, and reach for your wallet is no less than magic. For twenty-five years, that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to create at Keroscene Filmz, one frame at a time.

When we launched in 2000, advertising was in the middle of a fascinating shift. The era of catchy jingles was giving way to something more ambitious: narrative-led branded content, stories that didn’t just sell, but connected. I believed then, and I still believe now, that if you tell a story in a memorable way, everything else follows. Whether we’re shooting a high-octane sports film or a quiet, heartwarming story set in rural India, that’s always been the North Star.

What excites me most is how much the format keeps evolving. From film stock to beta tapes todigital, and now AI, every shift has opened new doors. New tools, new possibilities, new ways to push storytelling forward. And it’s not just the technology. Collaborating with young minds today is like plugging into a different kind of energy. They bring agility, curiosity, and a fresh lens to everything we do. They challenge assumptions I didn’t even know I was making. It keeps you honest. It keeps you young.

Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to work with incredible talent, creating music with legends like Vishal Shekhar, Taufiq Qureshi, Aman Pant, and Raghubir Yadav, and collaborating with movie stars who bring mass appeal to nuanced narratives. But here’s the truth: celebrity has never been the goal. It’s always been about finding the right person to tell the story best. Sometimes that’s a known face. Sometimes it’s someone the audience is  meeting for the first time. What matters is authenticity.

With a camera in hand, I’ve travelled across this country and beyond, from the narrow gullies of small Indian towns to bustling streets of cities abroad. Scouting for a location isn’t just logistics. It’s immersion. Every city, every street has something to teach you if you’re willing to listen. The way light falls on a wall at four in the afternoon, the rhythm of a local market. These aren’t backdrops, they’re characters in the story.

Here’s the hard truth: the biggest challenge today isn’t telling a story, it’s getting it noticed. There was a time when jingles like Nirma or Lifebuoy had recall for years. Today, a beautifully crafted film can get buried in the noise within hours. The digital boom has democratised content, but it’s also shortened shelf lives drastically. I see this as a creative challenge, not a constraint. You have less time now, but you can still pack in an emotional punch. In twenty to thirty seconds, you can make someone feel something real, and that’s what makes them remember you.

As we celebrate this silver jubilee, Keroscene isn’t just a production house that makes ads. We’re custodians of stories, stories that connect brands to people, stories that don’t just convert but create lasting impressions. We’ve spent twenty-five years learning how to say “buy this” in ways that feel like “I understand you,” turning products into protagonists and consumers into believers. But the truth? We’re just getting started. The camera is still rolling. The stories are still waiting to be told. And I’m still as curious as I was on day one about where the next great idea might come from.

Here’s to twenty-five years of Keroscene, and to the stories still unwritten.
Raajesh D Saathi is a director and the founder of Keroscene Filmz, with twenty-five years of
experience in advertising and filmmaking.