Mumbai: ZEE5 has rolled out an integrated, multi-touchpoint marketing campaign for its original crime–mystery thriller Saali Mohabbat, which has emerged as a strong performer on the platform, crossing 100 million watch minutes. Designed to extend the film’s layered narrative beyond the screen and into everyday cultural conversations, the campaign combined digital-first storytelling, influencer engagement, on-ground spike moments, platform innovations and consumer-facing brand collaborations.
As part of the campaign, ZEE5 partnered with Ferns N Petals (FNP) for a narrative-led collaboration inspired by the film’s storyline. Over a five-day window during the premiere week, every Ferns N Petals order nationwide included a personalised note from Radhika Apte encouraging recipients to watch the film on ZEE5, along with a QR code linking directly to the viewing page. In addition, specially curated premiere-day hampers featuring plants and select treats were sent to celebrities and influencers, extending the film’s character universe into real-life gifting moments.
The launch was further amplified through a strong social and digital push anchored in the thought “pyaar, khoobsurat bhi aur khatarnak bhi.” Prioritising organic and culturally resonant conversations over overt promotion, the campaign reimagined the film’s ‘poisonous’ flower as a storytelling device. Micro-influencers gifted a distinctive black rose to their partners as a symbolic warning, a visual metaphor that echoed the film’s dark humour and travelled organically across social feeds. Recall was also strengthened through a temporary Saali Mohabbat–inspired redesign of the ZEE5 logo across key launch touchpoints.
Momentum was driven through immersive spike activations and creator-led storytelling. A staged couple argument in a public setting, initially appearing spontaneous, blurred the lines between fiction and reality before revealing its connection to the film. Parallel collaborations with poet Keshav Jha and targeted activations within crime and thriller-focused YouTube communities helped spark genre-led conversations and reinforce word-of-mouth credibility.
Collectively, the campaign delivered over 12 million reach across platforms, combining influencer moments, disruptive on-ground activations and genre-focused community engagement, helping Saali Mohabbat trend across social and media conversations.
Speaking about the campaign, Kartik Mahadev, Chief Marketing Officer, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd said, “At ZEE5, we view every launch as a chance to build a relevant cultural narrative around the story, creating memorable moments. Our approach creates a flow of content between online and offline platform ecosystems where platform innovation, distribution surfaces, creators, and culture work in sync to make content both easier to discover and more rewarding to engage with. For Saali Mohabbat, we orchestrated high impact connected TV visibility, creator-driven storytelling, and real-world spike moments that carried the content emotion beyond the screen. This big idea led integration helped build curiosity and sustained engagement at scale delivering millions of meaningful reach moments and a launch experience that felt immersive, and unmistakably ZEE5.”
Avi Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer, Ferns N Petals said, “At FNP, we believe the strongest collaborations come from emotion, not marketing briefs. Saali Mohabbat gave us a character whose love for plants felt honest and deeply human. Bringing that into our everyday gifting experiences allowed us to extend Smita’s world beyond the screen—turning each delivery into a small, heartfelt invitation to discover her story on ZEE5.”
Saali Mohabbat is a ZEE5 Original how-dunnit thriller that follows Smita, portrayed by Radhika Apte, a seemingly ordinary housewife whose quiet life is disrupted by a shocking double murder, pulling her into a web of suspicion, secrets and psychological intrigue. The film also stars Divyenndu and Anurag Kashyap and marks the directorial debut of Tisca Chopra. It is the first-ever collaboration between ZEE5 and Manish Malhotra’s Stage5 Productions and premiered exclusively on ZEE5 on December 12, 2025.
