2025 Acko Drive Awards: Mahindra Sweeps the 2025 Best Creative Film (Car) Category

Mahindra has won the 2025 Best Creative Film (Car) TOTM for its Thar Roxx “Intehaan Ho Gayi” campaign, and has also earned the runner-up position for its viral “Cheeku Goes to Chakan” reaction video. The company’s efforts have been recognised at the third annual Acko Drive Awards, held in Pune on January 31 and February 1 this year. 

In the Thar Roxx spot, young Indians are seen united in their excitement for the launch of a new take on the classic tough Thar SUV. The TVC visits various locations across India, from a mountain setting to a beach to a busy city street, illustrating the car’s ruggedness and use in such conditions. The young fans then converge at a rock concert, similar to the real-life event that Mahindra held for the Thar Roxx launch. 

In its “Cheeku Goes to Chakan” film, Mahindra shows how it reacted swiftly to a viral video on social media showing a young influencer, Cheeku Yadav, talking about how he hopes to buy a Mahindra XUV700. Anand Mahindra himself amplified the video, and the company then invited Cheeku and his family to Mahindra’s plant at Chakan, near Pune. Showing the experience through the eyes of a child, Mahindra managed to ride the viral wave effectively, building goodwill and spreading smiles.

Runners-up for the Best Creative Film (Car) TOTM were Hyundai’s Badi Wali Rakhi, an emotional appeal for safety; Jeep Meridian - Shaadi, which captured the exuberance of Indian weddings; and Kia Seltos - The Badass Test Drive, a fun take on action movie car stunt sequences.

The Acko Drive Awards are unique in the Indian automobile industry for recognising advertising, marketing and PR activities and the people who push the boundaries when coming up with new ways to reach their audiences. The Best Creative Film categories required OEMs to submit a video created or released in the previous year. Only advertising and publicity campaigns were considered, not marketing communications or corporate films. Over 30 entries were evaluated by our dedicated communications jury, comprised of experts from the media industry including Ashish Chakravarty, Executive Director and India Head of Creative - McCann Worldgroup; Rohit Ohri, former Group CEO and Chairman, FCB Group India; Anita Sharma, automotive marketing and PR veteran; Ashish Mishra, Chief Marketing Officer - ACKO; Nikhil Chawla, auto and tech creator; Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, Editor-in-Chief - ACKO Drive; Suparna Singh, CEO and Co-Founder, Frammer AI; and Yogendra Pratap, Editor-in-Chief - Auto Today.