Mumbai-based agency blends global fitness icons with South Indian mass cinema flair, signaling a new era of ad-entertainment in India
MUMBAI, July 24, 2025 – What started as a throwaway LinkedIn comment has transformed into one of the year’s boldest and most talked-about campaigns. MuscleBlaze, India’s leading sports nutrition brand, has joined forces with global powerlifting sensation Larry Wheels and KGF franchise breakout star Garuda Ram for an over-the-top cinematic showdown conceptualized and executed by Adsto Media House.
The MuscleBlaze x Larry Wheels ft. Garuda Ram campaign is more than an ad—it’s what the industry is calling “ad cinema,” a hybrid of advertising and full-blown entertainment. Packed with South Indian-style action sequences, dramatic massy dialogues, and stylized masala moments, the campaign reflects a paradigm shift in modern advertising, where brands compete with streaming platforms and social media for consumer attention.
From a LinkedIn Comment to a Full-Blown Action Spectacle
When MuscleBlaze put out a casual call for agency pitches on LinkedIn, Adsto Media House didn’t just send a deck—they sent cinema.
Their audacious concept imagined a high-octane South Indian action face-off between Larry Wheels, the globally acclaimed fitness icon from the US, and Garuda Ram, the larger-than-life villain from KGF. The pitch cut through hundreds of proposals with its pop-culture mashup and entertainment-first approach, eventually winning the brand’s trust.
Under the leadership of media entrepreneur and “Artvertising Architect” Shivanand M. Lalwani, Adsto assembled a merit-first creative team, handpicking breakthrough talent from across India’s media landscape.
An Intense Production Sprint with Global-Local SynergyIn a tight production sprint, the team built a custom gym set in Delhi’s sweltering heat, blending Hollywood-grade action choreography with South Indian cinematic flair.> “We wanted this to be a true homage to South Indian action cinema—not a parody,” said Ashwin Lakshmi Narayan, Director of the ad film. “Every element, from the background score to the dialogues, was deliberate. The real stunt was packing all that drama into a short runtime on an even tighter schedule.”The end result is a high-energy, laugh-out-loud action spectacle that shatters category conventions in fitness marketing.
