Metro Kolkata

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I ... don't ... smoke

Those three words sound like music to my ears ....

My Favourite Movie Scenes

Warning -- Some of them might be a little senti :P

In no particular order

1. Rudraveena starring Chiranjeevei and Shobhana -- Language - Telugu

There is this scene in the movie where Suryam (Chiranjeevi) goes to a poor farmer's house. He finds the farmer's daughter there and inquires about her father's health (who met with some accident or sth like that). She replies saying that he is still a drunkard, comes late in the night, beats up her mom and abuses her and that nothing has changed. Meanwhile, he asks her about her mother who is inside the house (it is btw nth more than a shack). This girl calls out for her and the mother responds by asking her to come in. The girl goes in and the mother comes out. Mom and daughter whisper to each other and though we don't get to exactly hear the conversation, we realise that the mom is berating the daughter for something. Mom comes out finally and starts talking to Suyram. In the conversation, there is a reference to the daughter and she answers without coming out to which Suryam asks her to come out. The camera moves on to the mother and she says that if her daughter has to come out, she has to go in as there is only one saree in the house and that they have to share it.

The camera moves on to Suryam and we here Sri Sri's nenu saitam in the background. Amazing scene, not for the way it is picturized or anything. Just for the simple concept. Poverty at it's worst. And I am sure, this is not an exaggeration.

2. Saagara Sangamam starring Kamal Haasan and Jaya Pradha -- Language - Telugu

Both the protagonists are sitting in a park when Jayapradha (don't rmr her character's name) asks Balu (Kamal Haasan) if he has ever attended a particular music and dance festival. He replies saying that quite a few years back he managed to source an invitation from his guru but in the last minute had to cancel the trip as he was out of money. She says that she has a few invitations to this years event and that she can lend him one. Balu is like very happy and says that it is a forum where the greatest dancers of the country come together. She takes out an invitation and hands it over him. He starts going thru the contents and remarks that this year around, all the dancers are very talented. Suddenly he sees his own picture in the invitation and he goes speechless -- to which Jaya pradha says that even the person in the picture is a great dancer. We suddenly see tears rolling down Balu's face and he hides his face behind the invitation. Few seconds later, he looks up and we see him laughing / smiling.

The way Kamal Hasan acts in this scene is simply remarkable. There are scenes from other movies too (like Mahanadi where he goes in search of his daughter and manages to find her in a whore-house in Calcutta) where he manages to make audience senti. But this particular scene -- I don't really have words. I always end up having goose-bumps when I see this. The way his emotions change in a matter of few seconds is really really worth watching.

3. Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith

The last scene where he manages to secure himself a job with the company. He is extremely happy / thrilled and the way he dances once he comes out of the office -- again remarkable.

There is something in these two emotions -- sadness and joy that makes them universal. Was reading this book called emotions. He says stuff which most of us are aware that sadness and joy are universal emotions and people across the world react in a similar way to similar triggers. No wonder, we sometimes tend to understand the moods of the other person without them explicitly saying anything.

No ads today

No more gyan about ads today. I feel extremely tired. I guess i need a vacation. 6 and a half months is too long a time without a break.

Anyway, so what is happening?

There are quite a few things, professional and personal, which I have no clue as to where they are headed. But I guess, you don't always need to know the destination of every journey. Maybe, that is what makes the trip exciting.

I guess all I need is just one good nights sleep. To clear my mind off everything and get back my focus.

Till I come back tomorrow, long life to all and have fun.

First Post ...

....this month

Just noticed that my last post was on June 19th. Incidentally that was the day I took off for my first market visit as Asst Brand Mgr to Punjab. Was fortunate enough to travel across Punjab by road in a AC car. Managed to enjoy the lush green surroundings while escaping the scorching hot climate.

After that, nothing of consequence actually happened. Days just went by. Go to office, spend time till it is time to head back home and then head back home. Oh yeah, one of my brands is gonna be launched this month end. So a little amount of work had to be done there.

Anyway, no more gyan. Coming straight to what I wanted to say today. I was in kitchen when suddenly I heard this pretty familiar tune. "Buland bharat ki buland tasveer" (which I guess means strong picture of a strong India). I loved this particular tune as a kid. It is very catchy, has a lot of energy to it and it just lingers on you. So I come out of the kitchen wondering why Bajaj started advertising their scooters all over again (Weren't they out of market a few years back? Though my guess is that they will make a comeback again just for their fashion, heritage and Italian connection). Anyway, what I see on TV is this really sleek ad for Bajaj Pulsar. I guess it is their new improved model with all that 180cc jazz and stuff. The ad is pretty simple -- black bike, biker in black leather jacket, black helmet, black road, the bright surroundings (though I don't rmr if it is brownish or greenish -- my guess is that it would have been brownish or golden (wheat you see)). You see the bike zooming along the curves and in a very tacky looking (though I kind of liked it) animation, you have new bikes appearing from the initial bike. So initially, you have one bike and one rider, then you have two bikes and two riders and then three and it is as if they are racing along.

That is when the jingle starts "Naye bharat ki Naye Andaaz" --- "Hamara Bajaj"

Trust me, the voice has loads of bass but the killer is the tune and the execution. Definete winner if you ask me.

At the end of it all, all the bikes merge back into one.

Now this ad could have meant a lot. One thing i felt was that Bajaj is a clear leader and thus it has nobody but itself to compete with. This thought taking genesis from bikes appearing out of initial bikes and then racing.

But that apart, what would the Bajaj people given as a brief to the ad agency --

a. The ad has to somehow relate with the Bajaj heritage (using this tune -- I am impressed / biased :P) while at the same time avoid the scooter kind of image and should be relatable to the TG

b. To make the ad relevant to TG (black everywhere)

c. No overt mention of product attributes * you can say that the way bike was showed to zoom along the curves without a hitch is a product story -- but for me it is more the freedom, joy and the feeling of adventure and comfort that I would relate with the visual rather than anti-skid tyres*

d. And yeah, umbrella branding. I don't really remember if the ad was for Pulsar or for Bajaj. Either they are having plans to get into an IPO or they just want to pursue a strategy of Umbrella branding by using pulsar as a image generator for other suff like boxer etc.

So that is the ad that caught my attention in the last few days. Coming to my rating of the vitals,

Story -- No story overtly
Concept -- 3.5 / 5
Execution -- 4.5 / 5
Impact -- 4 / 5

I have a feeling that the Bajaj folks have a winner in this ad. Trust me, it would have a good impact on their salience and recall numbers.