I wish I had made these
?Mile Sur Mera Tumhara (Ek Sur) 1988, is something that I love and wish I had made even two decades later,? says Praveen Das, talking about his favourite ad. ?Written to inspire unity in diversity and national integration, it did just that. Its simplicity and spirit came through in a way that moved an entire nation. Something that very few ads have been able to do since then.?
Das goes on to explain, ?It was a celebration of the rich cultural diversity of the country. A tribute to how each state, each language brought something unique to making India such a treasure. The people shown, though legends, were in the ad as regular Indians singing a simple line, in harmony with each other though they were from different walks of life. The music, the situations, the people, the lyrics, the message all came together so beautifully and was loved by every Indian. Pure goosebumps material,? he adds.
His other favourite ad is the Vodafone Zoozoo campaign. ?Creating a world that gripped the entire country. I recall waiting for the next ad in the series eagerly just to see what they would get up to next. What shone through was the simplicity of the Zoozoos and how endearing the characters were. The creativity was very refreshing. Kudos to the agency and client for being brave enough to create this alternate world,? he says.
Thank god, it isn?t me
Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara of 2008 is an ad that Das does not like. He says, ?While I understand wanting to relive a true classic and have a chronologically correct national diversity film, I truly wish they had just left it at having good intentions. Instead it turns out to be a 16-minute ode to Bollywood and the stars which leaves you pining for the original. Hard to believe Louis Banks and Kailash Surendarnath who were part of the original, agreed to murder their original effort with this piece which I could hardly tolerate once.?
He adds, ?Nokia?s recent ad trying to reconnect with the youth with its Life?s Epic Drama, left me wanting to disconnect with Nokia forever. I have to consciously stop myself from judging any youngperson carrying a Nokia and asking them if they are facing an epic drama of choosing shoes. Not to mention the app being highlighted is not even a Symbian app but a third party app- Whatsapp. Nokia has some distance to go in ?Connecting people? after this effort.?
My first ad
Das’ first TV commercial was an animated film for Fastrack, called xy collection. He says, ?This happened quite late in my career. It was a simple film, with watches animated like a sperm and egg, chasing each other to showcase a couple?s collection of watches. The team
was quite small – my writer, Souvik Dutta, the then ?one man team? director- Sudhir Makhija and myself. We worked very closely with the director, shooting the watches ourselves, creating frames and it was a lot of fun, the
ad became quite popular. People actually thought the sound resembled sex, while it was just x,x,x y,y.
An experience that left me wanting to make more films.?
Das started his career in 1998 as an animator. He then worked as a copywriter in a small agency called Newline Media for about a year. After this, he moved to JWT Bangalore as an art director and worked there for about three years. After this, he moved to Maa Bozell to head its creative department.
Post this, he moved to Lowe Bangalore and worked there for two years.He then had a short six months at Ogilvy, Bangalore. This was the time when he decided to start his own shop, along with Kartik Iyer (co-founder, Happy). ?It has been four years now and I?m loving every minute of it,? he says.