Ramblings

Mumbai Indians?! What Does That Mean?!
The Mumbai Indian ad sucks! You can almost make out that the ad was the product of an afterthought - some Reliance Industries head honcho suddenly realizing "Arre, how come we don't have ad, yaar, like those bloody Knight Riders?" And then some junior executive must have made some frantic phone calls to the ad agency with the brief: make an ad with the 'Aamchi Mumbai' message at its core, but "finish it off fatafat, after all IPL shuru hone wala hai aur abhi tak ad nahi bana!" Result: Get together dabbawallahs, executives, tapori-types, throw in Hrithik Roshan and make them sing and dance to "duniya hila denge hum." One night to ideate, one more to shoot, some editing and voila we are ready to air! And Imagination can go take a hike! Also, whoever thought up the team name 'Mumbai Indians'?! Most probably, someone with a Chak De India hangover. So, let's follow Kabir Khan and call ourselves 'Indian Mumbaikars'. But no, that's not to be because the boss thinks 'Mumbai Indians' sound better!
The Royal Challengers ad is equally unimaginative with fielders diving, wickets rolling, batsmen scoring. We've seen those a hundred times, dude. If you can't think of anything at least get the Washington Redskins prancing around in pads, gloves and err... other protective gear. But for God's sake don't give me Dravid driving, Kumble spinning and the Team Huddling.
But, the one ad that takes the cake has to be the Deccan Chargers one, which has a bunch of bison charging and then morphing into the faces of the VVS Laxman, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs, looking menacingly at you.
Guru, imagination lagao, Knight Riders jaisa ad banao!

Pyar Ka (Asli!) Funda
Such is the power of advertising. Madhavan and Vidya Balan coochie-coo in the latest AirTel ad; Balan tells lovesick Maddy to call her 50 times a day while on business trip; voiceover says AirTel has reduced roaming/STD rates, ensuring distances don't matter in love; very mushy, very touching; next ad has Maddy calling Balan for eighth time within few minutes to say 'good night'; refuses to hang up even after Balan lovingly rebukes him for being so sentimental; again very saccharine sweet. But then that's the power of advertising, because industry analysts point out that AirTel's move to lower STD rates has more to do with undercutting rivals than playing Cupid! I know it's not rocket science, but the amazing part is Advertisements' ability to spin a price war into a love match.

P.S. Maddy, I think, is amazing as the fool in love; his smile, his expressions are brilliant. While Balan, I feel like slapping because she's so irritating as the level-headed girlfriend/wife/mistress.