Advertising India - the new age of television ad making

"Ek chidiya, anek chidiya..." Remember this Doordarshan ad telecast in eighties and early nineties dispersing the message about India's unity in diversity. All of us who have come across those early Doordarshan days still remember some of those popular television ads (Pan Pasand, Zhandu Balm, Coca Cola ads?). Indian ad industry has evolved a long way from those early days. After India had entered the free Economic world; the competition in every field of business has increased so much that companies today have little option than investing hugely in marketing and brand-building. And television advertisements are the most influencing instruments in today's dynamic industry verticals to get a product to its consumers.

In those early days of television, creativity in ad making was not the top priority. With only a few television channels and fewer competitors; companies can get away with creating just some ad campaigns to sell its products. But in today's Indian economy; where consumers are flooded with numerous choices in each category of products; and with so many television channels to go with - it's the creativity, innovation and the captivation of an ad campaign that matters as much as the quality of the product being advertised. And I can feel Indian ad film makers have stood firmly to this challenge giving us some of the best intuitive and creative advertisements in recent times.

Leading this revolution of new-age ad making are the gum companies like Mentos - Chlormint - Center Fresh, adhesives like Fevicol and the telecom majors. I still think the "Evolution" ad created by Mentos, the one with the donkey and prehistoric sapien, is one of the most creative ads coming out of Indian television. So are the ads by Center Fresh and Chlor-mint. In telecom field, where Vodafone is known for its intuitive ad making; its rival Airtel has adopted the technique of emotionally impressing its consumers. The Vodafone Zoozoo campaign during this year's IPL was probably the most sensational, and popular ad series ever. The famous Vodafone (originally created by brand Hutch) "friendly dog" ads are some of those simple feel-good commercials. Airtel, on the other hand, is known for its emotional ad making exercise. Take, for examples, ads like "Beyond boundaries", "the poor-son-of-land getting elected to represent real India" and recent "Dil Titly (Heart is a buttefly)" featuring Saif Ali Khan. And what should I talk about those plain, no-nonsense extremely creative and appealing ads of Fevicol - they always bring smiles to my face. There are other serious ad making companies like the Cola companies, the Deo ones and the automobile industry.

These new age TV commercials have shown the importance of good marketing and brand building for a greater share in today's extremely dynamic and competing consumer market. And as a consumer and a television viewer, I can hope to see some more creativity being exercised in television advertisements.

I never thought I would appreciate "Kaminapan" one day....

Why is "Kaminey" so good? Well you tell me. Take the most overused, outdated formula of Hindi Cinema - Judwaa Bhai (Twin brothers); dare to make a movie on that theme for today's multiplex generation and yet turn it into such an enjoyable ride that you yearn for more. Now if that is not incredible and supremely innovative - then you tell me what it is. It's a "coming out of the age" movie for Bollywood. I did expect this from Vishal Bharadwaj; especially after watching his previous movies - Omkara and Maqbool - two gems of Hindi cinema. And he outdid himself.

Kaminey has a strong script, witty dialogs, great music and marvelous acting from everybody including those assistant henchmen. It's visually stunning, dark at times, and most importantly funny - not overdoing the jokes. Take "Chalie's dream" for example - a masterful visual - and horse's sound in sync with Charlie's shout. Only a director with a heart to create something daring, original and new could come up with such subtle style. Now hold on - are you going to snag me when I say "original"? Are you going to quote Tarantino or Ritchie here? Get it right guys: there is nothing wrong in being inspired by some of these great Hollywood directors. Even though I agree the plot formation and specially the style of the climax may look similar to Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels"; there is nothing that you can term as "rip-off". At least nobody is stealing scene-by-scene from a foreign film and claiming it to be "original idea" like some of those shameless movie makers.

Shahid Kapoor - wow, I am now convinced - he is the new generation of Bollywood heroes. Mind blowing in both the roles of the movie. Priyanka - very cute, funny and lovable. And the villains - I strongly believe it is the villains that makes a movie more enjoyable. And in this case; there are plenty of them - and interestingly many of them (well almost all) are funny. They did a great job to keep the movie thrilling till the end. And whatever you have to say, I liked the ending. Perfect climax for a movie like this.

I am very happy and hopeful to see fresh ideas being tried in Bollywood. And directors like Vishal can really make a difference. Hope to see more "Kamineys" in coming days!!!