True Star Media Solutions’ (TSMS) Akhanda 2 campaign is being pitched as a template for how religiously themed mass films can use hyper‑contextual outdoor media rather than just blanket billboard buys. Instead of simply flooding metros with hoardings, the agency has mapped its biggest sites to some of Hinduism’s most sacred geographies, aligning the film’s marketing with its Shaivite, Aghora‑centric storyline.
What TSMS is doing differently
TSMS has built a pan‑India OOH grid where the hero locations mirror the 12 Jyotirlingas and other key Shaivite centres. The network spans temple towns, pilgrimage corridors, national highways and high‑footfall spiritual hubs, including the areas around Ujjain Mahakal, Kashi Vishwanath, Trimbakeshwar and Grineshwar, along with high‑impact sites in Delhi and other metros. By doing this, the agency is ensuring that the film’s posters, cut‑outs and DOOH creatives are seen not just by generic urban commuters but by devotees and travellers who are already in a spiritual frame of mind, making the visuals feel like an extension of the film’s narrative rather than just another movie ad.
Subhajit Paul, founder and head of strategy at TSMS, has described this as an “insight‑led mapping” exercise rather than a pure GRP/reach game. The media plan is built around pilgrimage routes and high‑intent travel corridors, with an emphasis on longer dwell times and emotionally charged moments where audiences are more receptive to devotional imagery. Co‑founder Kaleem Pasha frames the goal as “disproportionately high impact with sharply optimised spends,” arguing that a culturally tuned network can deliver more meaningful impressions than a much larger but generic OOH buy.
TSMS is also using its digital arm, Catkin, to position this as a new kind of OOH‑plus‑tech solution, where geo‑intelligence, cultural mapping and creative are fused to build hyper‑local, spiritually resonant brand experiences. The agency hints at multiple technology platforms in development, suggesting that this Jyotirlinga‑linked rollout is an early showcase of a broader product roadmap.
About Akhanda 2 and its spiritual positioning
Akhanda 2: Thaandavam is the sequel to the 2021 Telugu hit Akhanda, once again directed by Boyapati Sreenu and headlined by Nandamuri Balakrishna in a larger‑than‑life Aghora avatar. The film is a fantasy action drama that blends intense mass‑hero set‑pieces with a narrative steeped in Shaiva philosophy, Sanatana Dharma, and the idea of rising to defend dharma against internal and external threats.
The team has leaned hard into this devotional positioning in the run‑up to its December 5 pan‑India release. The trailer showcases Balakrishna in a dual role, fiery dialogues, temple backdrops and ritual imagery, with Boyapati calling the film a representation of “the soul and supreme soul of India” built around Sanatana Dharma. The producers have even shot key sequences at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, making Akhanda 2 the first Telugu film to capture large‑scale visuals of Aghoras, Naga sadhus and crores of devotees at the world’s biggest religious gathering, a schedule that reportedly cost around ₹3 crore and required special permissions from the UP and central governments.
The team has also conducted outreach to political and cultural figures: Balakrishna and Boyapati recently met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who viewed rushes of the film and praised its devotional narrative and scale. All of this reinforces the film’s positioning as not just another action entertainer, but a “devotional action spectacle” designed to resonate strongly in North India as well as its Telugu home base.
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Why this campaign matters for the film industry
Akhanda 2’s marketing push is significant for three reasons.
First, it shows how content and geography can be tightly integrated in film promotion. For a movie rooted in Shaivism and Aghora lore, locating its billboards and DOOH units along pilgrimage routes and temple towns does more than drive awareness—it anchors the film inside the lived religious landscape of its target audience. This is a step beyond typical “pan‑India” spends where South films simply plaster Hindi‑speaking cities without cultural fine‑tuning.
Second, it underlines a broader shift toward insight‑driven, data‑backed OOH in Indian entertainment marketing. TSMS talks about using mapping, travel‑corridor data and high‑intent geo‑clusters to cut wastage and focus on “moments of high emotional and cultural engagement”. If the campaign converts into strong openings in temple belts and tier‑2/3 markets, it could push more studios to treat OOH like a precision tool rather than a vanity spend.
Third, it fits into the emerging trend of “devotional mass cinema” as a pan‑India category. With rights reportedly pegged at record levels and a carefully calibrated North‑India push, Akhanda 2 is being positioned alongside recent mythic‑spiritual blockbusters as a film that can carry both box‑office and cultural weight. A spiritually aligned, temple‑mapped OOH campaign becomes part of that proposition: it signals to exhibitors, political stakeholders and audiences that the film is not just seeking tickets, but trying to participate in a larger cultural conversation.
Taken together, Akhanda 2 and TSMS’s Jyotirlinga‑driven rollout illustrate how high‑concept, faith‑infused storytelling and equally high‑concept media planning are starting to converge in Indian cinema—especially for films that aim to travel well beyond their original linguistic base.
