addendum

Addendum is a fortnightly column that takes a sometimes hard, sometimes casual, sometimes irreverent yet never malicious look at some of the new or recent advertisements and comments on them.

India ka tadka

We are truly a nation of festivals. And each festival is marked with unique festivities. The colours of Holi, the lights (and unfortunately the sounds) of Diwali, the Raas and Garbha of Navaratri, the sounds and sights of Id and so on. And that’s not the only unique aspect associated with festivals. Each festival has its unique food that accompanies it. The maach of Bengal, the gulab jamuns for Hindu festivals, the modaks for Ganesh Chaturthi, the plum cake of Christmas and the biryani of Id. So what’s a festival without a mouth-watering delicacy? And what’s good food without a good cooking oil? And so you have this TVC for Dhara, the 28-year-old cooking oil from DDB Mudra where all these aspects of festivals, festivities and food come together with a very hummable song. The treatment is very different too. Colour wash drawings come alive as they are animated to tell this story of a country and the food it delights in. And the tag line sums it all up. India ka Tadka . Need we say more?

Your kingdom

Your home, your palace. Now Lodha, the well-known builders, take this to another level with a TVC by Ogilvy that says “your home your kingdom”. With a lukewarm home market, Lodha couldn’t have picked a better time to release an image-building campaign. The film is centred on the fantasy of a little girl who wanders around spelling out her dream home. And the camera follows her past castles, and rivers and deer-filled forests and a verdant maze before ending up in this huge bedroom where the little tot has to scale the sides of her tall four-poster bed. Yes, this is the stuff that dreams are made up of. And this is what anyone would fantasise for their own home. So what’s the reality check now? Well, Lodha has already earned a name for itself as a leader in the luxury home segment. And has always had a penchant for the hyperbole. I recall them re-positioning their project in dowdy Wadala, Mumbai as the “New Cuffe Parade” (that was with Alok Nanda Associates). Well, fantasies are all very well provided the builder delivers what is promised, in the time schedule it is promised. Now for most builders, that is another fantasy.

Think big

This is the festive season. And I want to restrict myself to only saying good things about everything I come into contact with. And so I will not go into the details of Karbonn phone’s news series of TVCs. Let me just say it is an effort to use humour and promote the new phone which is big on features with the accent on “think big”. And the funny man is Manoj Pahwa. So let’s think big and concentrate on the phone and its features, and not about the dissatisfied characters in the films. Or the dissatisfied reviewer.

Colourful experience

And as the festival of lights draws close, Sony Bravia and Hakhuhodo Percept have this TVC where the choreography of Terence Lewis is fused with the director’s imagination and special effects to come up with a visually compelling experience. Stunning visuals effectively convey the message about the brilliant viewing experience that the Sony Bravia range of TVs offers. Very topical. Very relevant.

Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant. Mail your comments to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in