How Leo packed ‘surprises’ in Flipkart Big Billion Days ad

Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai (Anything is possible). That’s the name of Flipkart’s ad campaign for this year’s Big Billion Days sale – and it lives up to its promise. The campaign begins with a woman buying a few things on the e-commerce app, and what follows is literally “Kuch Bhi”.

Imagine arriving at a venue in an auto-rickshaw and being granted VIP entry. Done. What about checking into a lift where Alia Bhatt is waiting? That too is done. And then enters Amitabh Bachchan – and they all share the same pineapple phone cover. Kuch Bhi!

Conceptualised by Leo India (formerly Leo Burnett), the three-minute film brings together Bollywood stars, regional actors, comedians, and influencers to create a surprise-filled world around Flipkart shopping.

For Flipkart, this isn’t just another sale. “Big Billion Days is like IPL for Flipkart,” says Sachin Kamble, chief creative officer at Leo India.

“Every year we try to outdo ourselves. This time, we wanted something massive, something magical. The brief was simple: Big Billion Days isn’t just about shopping; it’s about the magic shopping creates in people’s lives,” he adds.

Juggling a galaxy of stars

The cast list reads like a mini red carpet: Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Sreeleela, Farah Khan, celebrity chef Dilip, boAt’s Aman Gupta, social media star Jannat Zubair, Sakshi Shivdasani, Dolly Chaiwala, music producer Yashraj Mukhate, comedian Anubhav Singh Bassi, entrepreneur and content creator Ankur Warikoo and Arista Mehta – the main star of the ad.

However, Kamble reveals that wrangling such a large number of stars was not as glamorous as it may seem.

“People think adding celebrities makes the job easy. But add a lot of them, and it becomes very hard. Every star has to have a meaningful part, and you can’t write jokes around them unless you know their personality. We spent nearly three months just writing, revising, and aligning with Flipkart and the celebrities’ schedules before we could shoot,” he laughs.

The shoot itself spanned three days. It was split smartly: Amitabh and Alia were filmed separately, while the others came together in choreographed bursts. “On the day of the shoot, everything went smoothly because it was planned so well. Every celebrity knew exactly what their job was,” says Kamble.

The shopper at the centre

The ad isn’t just about star power. The real hero is a young woman who shops on Flipkart and suddenly finds herself in a world filled with celebrities. “It’s her story,” Kamble emphasises.

Sachin Kamble, chief creative officer at Leo India

“The celebrities are there to live her journey. She’s the one becoming a superstar overnight.”

And the details matter: the dress she wears and the phone case she buys (the quirky pineapple cover) are available on Flipkart. “We wanted viewers to watch the film and think, ‘Hey, I can buy that too,’” says Kamble.

On the financial front, Kamble did not disclose the specifics of the celebrity deals but indicated that the production costs alone, excluding star fees, ranged from Rs 5 to 7 crore. With the added promotion through the celebrities’ own social media platforms, Flipkart expects that the film will reach a wide audience without relying solely on paid advertising.

Casting across regions

In addition to Bollywood faces, Flipkart pulled in stars like South actress Sreeleela to give the campaign a pan-India feel. “We wanted surprises every 10 seconds,” Kamble explains. “So whether it’s a big Bollywood name, a stand-up comic, or a regional star, the idea was to keep viewers guessing – and smiling.”

Farah Khan and her famous celebrity chef Dilip also appeared in the film with their comic punches. A conscious effort was made to rope in talent from different spaces and geographies.

Gamble also reveals that the original version was way too long, and some jokes were cut out of it to make it shorter and snappier. “We had a long five-minute version initially and kept trimming it down to 3.5 minutes. Every joke, every celebrity, every beat had to earn its place,” he says.

Standing apart from Dream11

Of course, comparisons with Dream11’s celebrity-laden ad featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Rohit Sharma and more were inevitable. In those ads, stars jostle in rapid-fire sketches, poking fun at each other. Kamble acknowledges the overlap but draws a sharp line. 

“Yes, both have many celebrities and run for a few minutes. But in our film, the protagonist’s story is at the centre. Every celebrity is there to make her life better. We also differentiated with music, using a rap background and keeping the surprises coming every few seconds. That’s what makes it unique,” he explains.

Beyond one big film

The three-minute film is just the centrepiece. Leo and Flipkart also created shorter follow-up ads for categories such as fashion, mobiles, beauty, and appliances, starring Amitabh, Alia, Mahesh, and others.

This layered rollout, Kamble says, was deliberate: “The first film launched with minimal messaging – no sale dates – because we wanted it to feel like viral content. The follow-ups and cutdowns then carried the details and kept the buzz alive.”

The initial films didn’t reveal the sale dates, deliberately building intrigue; subsequent cuts and print assets revealed that the Big Billion Days sale starts on September 23.