Myntra launches a new micro-drama with Folks in the Building, bringing familiar internet personalities together as fictional neighbours in a shared universe.
Myntra brought a new spin to the fast-growing micro-drama format with Folks in the Building, a series built around a simple question: what if the internet’s familiar personalities all lived in the same building?
The series features Anuj Gupta, Sameha Shams (Sheena), Shivani Gupta, Varun Grover, Anubhavi, Ankita Sahigal and Gulshan Grover, bringing together distinct personalities, content styles and audience communities. Instead of creating fictional characters and casting creators to play them, Folks in the Building starts with personalities audiences already know and builds the world around them.
Across four two-minute films, the residents cross paths through everyday situations, creating moments of chaos, comedy and unexpected interactions. A recurring Myntra delivery executive, Vishal, moves through the building as an accidental witness and sometimes an unwilling participant in the lives of its residents.
At the heart of the format is the challenge of telling a compelling story and giving audiences a reason to stay till the end. This shifts the focus from simply creating branded content to creating entertainment that audiences actively want to watch. For Myntra, it represents a new approach to brand marketing: entertain first, integrate the brand seamlessly, and let the story do the selling. Deliveries, shopping behaviour and Vishal’s recurring presence become part of the narrative rather than conventional brand placements.
The casting also allows the series to speak to Myntra’s vast and varied audience. By bringing together personalities who resonate with different cohorts; from younger internet-first audiences and millennials to couples and more mature viewers; Folks in the Building creates a cross-section of the internet, giving different audiences a familiar entry point into the same story.
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Monalisa Panda, Head of Social, Myntra, said: “Micro-drama has become one of the most exciting formats on the internet, and we’ve seen firsthand how much audiences enjoy stories they can binge in minutes. With Folks in the Building, we started with personalities our audiences already know and put them in one building, which gave us a world that feels instantly familiar and has plenty of room for chaos and comedy. Vishal, our delivery executive, ties it all together, because the brand should be part of the story and not an interruption to it. This is just the first floor, and we’re excited to see which residents, crossovers and storylines audiences want next.”
Raghav Bagai, Co-founder, SW Network, added: “Micro-drama is changing the way audiences discover and consume stories, but for brands, the opportunity goes beyond simply adopting the format. With Folks in the Building, the challenge was to write stories strong enough to hold attention in just two minutes, while making the brand feel like a natural part of the world. The idea was to put entertainment first and let Myntra become part of the story rather than an interruption to it.”
Jaunty, producer and director, Banana in a Suit (BIAS Studios), said: “From a production standpoint, Folks in the Building was exciting because we weren’t just shooting four short films; we were building one cohesive world. Bringing distinct personalities together meant keeping the filmmaking fast, energetic and character-driven. With the limited runtime of micro-drama, every shot and beat had to count. Working with Myntra gave us the opportunity to explore that balance of pace, character and storytelling; and we see this as just the beginning for the format.”
What makes Folks in the Building distinctive is this shift in approach; from selling through content to entertaining through storytelling. With four films designed as the beginning of a larger fictional building and its residents, the format also creates room for new situations, crossovers and characters to keep the world evolving.