Mumbai: Janardhan Pokala, former Brand Head of Atlys, has co-founded KALI, a multidisciplinary creative agency working across brand strategy, mainline advertising, digital, film, still production, and emerging technologies.
The new agency is positioned to bridge the gap between strategy, creativity, and execution, responding to the increasingly fragmented nature of modern brand communication. KALI aims to bring integrated thinking and end-to-end ownership under one roof, ensuring ideas remain consistent and impactful across platforms.
Speaking on the launch, Janardhan Pokala said, “KALI is a response to how fragmented the work has become. We’ve built systems where specialists operate in silos. Someone comes up with the idea, someone else is responsible for scaling it on social, someone else leads strategy, but the work suffers because responsibility is fragmented. Along the way, an industry built to challenge has settled for approval.
We’re building an agency where creative, strategy, and execution sit at the same table. Where the people who create the work are involved from the first conversation to the final output. And where ideas aren’t diluted as they move through layers. The agencies that have shaped culture didn’t do it by playing safe. They stayed independent in spirit, questioning conventions, backing strong points of view, and taking responsibility for the work they put out. That’s the kind of agency we want to build.”
Before founding KALI, Janardhan served as Brand Head at Atlys, where he led brand and creative strategy across Indian and global markets. Prior to that, he spent over a decade across leading agencies and brands, shaping identities, narratives, and campaigns across categories and geographies.
Headquartered in Delhi, KALI will work with brands across India, offering a unified approach that blends strategy, storytelling, and production with a focus on cultural relevance and creative accountability.
