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