ADra sakka! ADra mokka!

A new series where the best and boring television advertisements (TVCs) of the month will be featured.

ADra sakka!

1. SBI Life Insurance

Insurance is the most boring category when it comes to TVCs and it is not very come up with something out of the box for this category.In how many ways can you express the same 'Family, security, anything-for-your-loved-ones, plan-for-tomorrow'? This ad is about planning for a better tomorrow 'coz zindagi hai jeene ke liye which most other, rather, all other plays talk about. But SBI's TVC conveys it beautifully. A young couple listening to Kishore Kumar's 'Hum jab hoonge saath saal...' in the car on the radio and the husband decides to switch off only to sing his own verses to the same tune only what he would do when he turns 60. This brings a cute smile on the wife's face and she asks him if he'd have his teeth intact to enjoy the ice cream that he has been singing about. He replies, they laugh and get out of the car to enjoy the rains on Marine drive.

When we come up with ideas for our clients the boss often asks us to look around for situations in our everyday life. And that's precisely what this ad has done (No, we haven't come up with this thought). Am sure a lot of us break into impromptu songs or sing along with the radio as we drive and this ad has captured this particular situation really well. The casting is very good. The guy's mischievous expressions as she switches on the radio and before he decides to switch off adds to the fun. The ad has been produced by Chrome pictures directed by Amit Sharma.

2.Vodafone

How, how, how? How on earth do they come up with ultra cute TVCs every single time? The animated 'Hi's , the pug, the alerts and of course the zoo zoos

This TVC is on promoting the number 121 for subscribers to call and choose an offer that fits them the best.

A young girl is looking to adopt (buy?) a dog and the guy at the store shows her a couple of them. She is not quite happy with any of them. Finally she is, with this cute one that strangely resembles her with its big ears similar to her mane :)

Check it out here

Hats off to Rajiv Rao & team Ogilvy!

3. Aman Ki Asha

Am not in favor of any Indo-Pak peace process and Aman Ki Asha as a concept is so... f...ake! But this ad is really nice. Senti yes but quite well done

The ad starts with this old guy trying to mime something to another guy who is watching him through the binoculars. The senior citizen's friends are helping him communicate something. We assume they are playing dumb charades and it is revealed at the end of the TVC that the group of senior citizens are from Pakistan wanting to listen to a song from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge on the radio and the young guys across the border in India are helping them by calling the radio station on the request hour.

Lovely ad wasted for this concept which is nothing but a stupid marketing ploy.

ADra mokka!

IDEA- Save paper

Their caste war campaign was refreshing when it was on air two years ago. The walk and talk was one big yawn and now the most boring of them all.. Save paper! It is not about the thought but the execution. The ad wants to talk about IDEA cellular replacing papers in airports, churches, colleges, courts, restaurants... ooph! Oh yes also emphasize the fact that Abhishek Bachchan, the brand ambassador is the .. THE TREE himself!

What a mokka Idea sirjee!

See you next month that will feature the Feb ads. Suggestions for the best and worst of Feb to be mailed to blogeswari [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

Goa

Remember Adzap - this intercollegiate inter-school thing where teams would take off on popular films / ads? Once upon a time, at every fest Loyola would begin their adzap episodes with two guys saying "I warn you" "I warn you da" "I warn you" to each other and a voice-over taking over with his "Warner bros. present...". Thought it was very funny when I saw it the first time, "okay okay" on the second and "seri da what next?" the third time and "please stop eet!" the fourth time.

Venkat Prabhu is in Phase III now.

Goaduvaa...

The Oor nattamai played by Kollywood family's biggest 'sevagar' ,'Kollywood ozhukkam kaakum' Viji alais Vijayakumar, after drinking a sembu of water and vetti-fying the kaasu decides that the three notorious friends Vaibhav, Jai, Premji and their families will not interact / talk to each other. Vaibhav, the self-proclaimed casanova is nattamai's son ; Premji is the saami-varam tanda son of Poor man's Sivaji Ganesan a.k.a Shanmughasundaram ; Jai's dad is Sandrasegar.

The three best friends decide to leave their village and go to Madurai and have a gala time for a week at Jai's friend Azhagar's house. From Madurai they move to Goa with the sole purpose of meeting 'foreigner women', get married and go abroad and send some money to their folks.

The rest of the story is mindless, senseless madness. no roller coaster ride and all.

Goaaahaa

Goa starts with a typical Bharatiraja-R V Udayakumar type village song set to a new Illayaraja 80s type tune - birds flying, women is jagajakka sarees dancing, koil backdrop, closeup of a dozen feet with anklets running across the falls. And we are supposed to wonder what the intro song is all about when the film is titled 'Goa'. Supposed to.C'mon VP, something new please! [In case you are wondering who VP is , it is none other than director Venkat Prabhu - the close circle jingujakka media calls him 'VP'..ainggg!]

The scene where Jai's friend Azhagar in Madurai gets married is seriously funny particularly with the intro where you see a welcome sign 'Azhagar weds Angelina Jolie'. LOL! The story here is Azhagar a former tourist guide in Goa meets Angelina Jolie there, fall for each other and get married in Madurai. Angelina's friends are all these oreda white skinned people one of whom falls for Premji.

Premji's track, solely dependent on tamizh film spoofs is the backbone of the film. He excels in his scenes. You have seen it all before but still you can't stop LOL-ing when you see him face a dozen villains and dishoom dishoom to the 'Puli urumudu' track from Vettaikkaran. Jai and Vaibhav loiter around with no great purpose. Their English speakings in Tamizh ishtyle is quite nice.

Thankfully we don't have a Bollywood item number playing the negative role but it is our own Sneha who sheds her kudumba ponnu, kula vilakku image and is paired opposite Vaibhav. This Pia whoever is such a waste of time.

Goahem ahem

There's this gay track of Arvind Akash and Sampath. Sampath has done a fabulous job as the gay partner. Their romance is handled well.. really well! Keeping with the tradition of all gay stuff in Indian films, this one too has you LOL-ing.

Goayyo!

After a point, the looking-at-the-camera-for-an-IR-tune bit, Tamizh film parodies, "Enna koduma idhu saravanan" get on your nerves.To add the woes is this re-re-re-repetitive Kangal Irandal track for Premji and his girl friend.

What was Ananda Raj doing the film? One number flashback with Anandaraja, Viji, Shanmughasundaram and Sandrasegar to appease who I wonder. And this guy Ravishankar playing the cop, the vaadhyar, the casino supervisor, villager... didn't quite get what they were trying to do.

Jai and Vaibhav are complete wastes. Since the entire film rests on spoofs, the supposedly serious track between Jai and Pia falls flat . And what was this atrocious climax inspired by Ocean's 11?

Music was a such a huge disappointment. None.. none of the songs worked.

Goaahhnng?

Goa as a film is one of those funny youtube videos with Hitler, Titanic tamizh etc.The Venkat prabhu style of film-making is very evident in every frame of the film. The director was so busy casting his friends and family in various roles, watching DVDs of popular tamizh films and listening to old IR's songs that he forgot about something as important as a story for the film.

Having said all that, watch it with your friends and you are sure to have a fun time!

Goa - Going going going nowhere - 3 out of 5

3 Idiots

"Refreshing" "Superb!" "Rajkumar Hirani - Take a bow!" "Triple thumbs up!" - that was probably what I thought I'd say after watching the film that has Aamir in the lead and Rajkumar Hirani as the director. And Aamir was the only reason I watched the film first day first show. I came out of the theatre disappointed.

Story

Farhan (Madhavan) and Raju's (Sharman Joshi) classmate and roomie in the hostel is Rancho (Aamir Khan). Rancho is one kaliyuga Santaclaus, who spreads joy and goodness amongst people particularly his friends . Both his friends are not interested in studies and float around in college only because one has his family dependant on him to get a job and earn monies with his engineering degree and the other's father decided on the day of his birth that he would become an engineer. The Dean of the college Viru Sahasra Budhe/ Buddhi does not particularly like these 3 Idiots and goes all out to make these guys' lives miserable in college.

Rancho is a topper in class . And he aalakkufyes both his friends- Raju gets a job facing one number campus interview and Farhan decides to pursue his interest in wildlife photography. But then... Rancho goes missing! If the film had had a tied up with google the movie would have been over in 20 minutes. So all you idiots, thank youtube and facebook because this is a 2 1/2 hour 'film' film only 'coz this film has a tie up these and not google . And yes, you are a pucca idiot if you get to watch this film during the long weekend 'coz the ticket prices are going to go upar upar and upar only for this long weekend. Got it idiot? Now wait for it to come on Colours or some such Channel in the next 30 days. Don't waste your money - Idddiot!

Munnabhai part 3

This film should have been titled Munnabhai part 3. The do-gooder hero who is the kaliyuga Santaclaus, the humour, the overtly senti scene which are painful after a point, the music, the singer, the tiny moments, Boman's caricature, "Let's change the education system" - everything reminds you of Munnabhai

The 3 pluses

Cast : Madhavan is quite a dependable actor and he does what is expected of. Has Aamir tried to overdo the 20 year old bit rolling his eyes and scratching his head like a loser? Yes he does. Sharman is cute. Boman has played a similar role like this before in quite a few films but he is quite an 'entertainment' in the film. Kareena kapoor does a 'Jab we met' minus the pout. Big relief. So tick mark. Omi who plays Chatur keeps you in splits.

Humor: The film is honestly, funny. No no not the typical Bollywood sheniyan Johnny Lever kinds but with jokes that are not slapstick and annoying.

Sentientertainment: Raju Hirani is a master at pizhinchifying sentiness out of you with a tinge of humor and 3 Idiots is of the same type.

The 6 minuses

Cast: Despite Aamir trying to look young scratching his head, rolling his eyes etc. the kezhattutanam shows. Madhavan - '78 born. ha ha ha ! Semma joke! Aren't there 20 year olds in the country who could have played the same roles?

Sentiness : There can be only one or two high senti points in any film. If every second moment is one sentipan making you reach out to your handkerchief, it gets painful after a point. You guys tried it in Munnabhai and it worked (not for me though) but please this is getting repetitive Raju Hirani Sir.

Shantanu Moitra, Sonu Nigam : The music director is a great talent but very limited. The retro tune is Shantanu's forte` and that's probably why they sound rehashed. And why? why Sonu Nigam who sounds constipated in all the songs?

In-film branding: Such films make me feel good about the job I do which is on similar lines. The in-film branding is so blatant and blunt that I once again want to pat myself for the wonderful job I do with respect to branding. [Boss, you reading this one?] Television shots with Big TV branding (so Big you can't miss it), Phone rings with the Airtel ringtone (so loud it annoys you) and that stupid All izz well (Reliance Life Insurance).

Makeup

Aamir's makeup is really bad and he looks like the male version of Kajol in the Olay ad

"Idho doctor" moments

Bollywood / Tamizh films have these "Where is the doctor?- Here comes the doctor" moments. Those were the '60s and '70s where we'd wait for those predictable 'Police-in-the-climax' scenes in the MGR films. This film has many such moments the most annoying being the 'All izz well' when Mona Singh delivers her child. The scene was being pullllllllllll...led to the 'All izz well' moment so hard you have every other person in the theatre saying "All izz well" (Thinking about it, was that the real aim - getting people to shout brand taglines?)

Izzz All well?

You pay goddamn 200 bucks (there are losers who are going to pay more for the evening-night shows during this long weekend! ha ha ha) to be entertained for those 2 1/2 hours and 3 idiots does this dutifully.

But the film is so predictable oh-so predictable in the second half that you wish you had paid half the price and watched only the first half.

3 Idiots - One point something for each idiot - 3 out of 5

Tele-vetti takes a break!

The answers for Tele-vetti 24 are

1.Thalapathi

2. Kuselan

3. Rajadhi raja

4. Mannan

5. Sri Raghavendrar

6. Johnny

7. Sivaji : The Boss

8. Baasha

9. Moondru mugam

10.Ninaithale inikkum

11. Guru Sishyan

12. Muthu

13. Mullum malarum

14. Annamalai

15. Chandramukhi

The Aascar goes to

Filbert ;Balaji ; Karthick Krishna C.S and Sriram Murali - 15/15. Congratulations!

Scores:

Ananth K ; Hema ; Gayatri ; Chandrasekaran Krishnan ;Ganesh Kumar ;Sharanya Ramanathan ; Vinothkumar Gopal ; Vignesh K - 14/15

Sathya ; NAt Iyer ; Gradwolf ; Swapna ;Ambi ; LC ; Prashanthni ; Jesudoss, Janet ; 'Blogavathar' Pravin Shekar ;Manikandan - 13/15

Anantha ; Vivek ; Meera ; Praveen S ; Rajeswari ; Sridhar ; Archana Deepak ; Lavs -12/15

Krithika ; Gayathri Giridhar ; Padmashri -11/15

Aparajith - 10/15

Sachitta - 9/15

Tele-vetti takes a break for now. Will be back next year!

Rocket Singh : Salesman of the year

Married to a 'salesman' (ok ok sales head!), working with the sales 'peoples' everyday, I could relate to every bit of this film, the setting and particularly, the protagonist though I have never done this selling bit ever in my life.

Dhanda

It is a tried and tested - 'underdog turns winner' story for Shimit Amin's Rocket Singh: Salesman of the year. Harpreet Singh Bedi played by Ranbir Kapoor the fresh graduate gets a job in a company that sells computers. Harpreet ends messing up a client deal that puts an end to his field job. Asked to do cold-(telephone) calls passing on leads to his colleagues, he starts his own outfit - Rocket sales, from the premises of his present office . Business does well and his company ends up getting all the deals from his employer. But Ranbir gets into a mish-mash when the employer gets to know of this and is thrown out of the office ....And finally... finally beating all odds emerges the real winner. Sounds familiar no?

Deal

The story is very simple with no contrived scenes except for those with the big boss. More on that later. Ranbir Kapoor is superb. No overacting. Looks like a real sardar. The scenes between Ranbir and his father played by Prem Chopra are not the usual 'Papaji-Puttarji-Gajjar ka halwa' kinds. NO KIRRON KHER as the Punjabi mom! Infact, No mom at all.

Who is that guy who has played Ranbir's immediate boss? Good performance. Gauhar Khan is the itemized girl in the movie. Another relief was except for one song (which slackened the pace) there were no songs at all.

No deal

If there's one guy who has killed the film, its the actor who plays the big boss . Reminded me of 'Mirundanga Chakravarthi' Sivaji. His expression were so over the top. Was a complete misfit in the entire environment. Ranbir Kapoor's girl friend played by Shahzn Padamsee is konjam waste - a girlfriend only because this is a Hindi film and we need to have a so-called heroine.

The scenes were the rest of the team makes fun of Kapoor are very filmi. And the scenes where Ranbir has a conversation with the big boss on the phone, scenes where he talks about honesty, how he cannot let his people down etc look very familiar (Mr. Bharath, Padaiyappa types)

Commission, Bonus...

But after all this, Rocket Singh worked for me for its sheer simplicity. The first half was definitely better than the second. The dialogues were witty. The cinematography was neat and the art director didn't go about creating an artificial office. The set looked real.

If you have done sales in your life, you will relate to every bit of the film. I went for the film with my sales colleagues and we had a riot. And that's probably why this chamattu of a review!

Final Review - Rocking Singh : 3.5 out of 5