TVC for Nathella Jewellers
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R56-nI8Se7g

The film is a culmination of both the scripts, like the client wanted

Script1:

Title: Imitation

      Films opens with little hands of a kid (girl) opening a jewellery box. Cut to we show her sitting in front of a huge mirror (her mom’s dressing table) and she tries on her mom’s jewels. We show oversize bangles and chains which she tries on.

      Her mom and dad secretly watch her and laugh. They come in and hug her and give her a gift of Nathella kid’s jewellery.

      Comeback shot we show a three shot of kid, mom and dad in front of the mirror, with the kid wearing the new jewels exclusively made for kids.

 Or

      When the kids are playing one of the kids comes along and notices the chain or bangle or earring. Immediately other kids start to look at the other pieces of jewellery that the kid is wearing cut to PW.

Script2:

Title’ Kolusu’ (tamil) or anklet in English

      Wearing a ‘kolusu’ is considered auspicious for kids and when they are born they are presented with ‘Kolusu’ by close relatives and grandparents.

This is a very short film 10-15 seconds.

      We first hear the sound of ‘kolusu’. And then we show only the little feet of the kid moving around. Cut to full shot of a cute kid who has just learnt to walk. Again cut to the little steps with highlight on the ‘kolusu’. Cut to PW.

Or we can slowly tilt up and show the kid wearing a piece of jewellery around the hip and then the neck and the kid smiles cutely. Cut to PW.

Or we just show a shot of the kid’s mom… in the background we hear noise of the ‘kolusu’. Suddenly the noise stops and her mom frowns and worries. She checks on her kid and we just show a shot of the kid lifting the little legs up and reaching for something. Emphasis on the little legs lifting up and reaching for something showing the anklets. Mom smiles reaches and lifts the kid. Cut to PW.

My Ad for Elite Matrimony .....( I wrote the script)

TVC for Elite Matrimony......(Script was written in a collaboration of three writers, my boss,myself and a client service guy called Vasanth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdVogbwGxXY

(This ad film was shot by Full Circle Productions, Mumbai at a budget of 30 lakhs)

Elitematrimony (a division of Bharatmatrimony) 
       This film opens at the 4th Birthday party of a girl. The cues as
mentioned earlier suggest a rich household. Surrounded by guests and stacks of gifts, the girl is thrilled to see the father rushing home presumably from a trip abroad just in time. He hugs her and gives her the gift (Doll/Teddy Bear) he has brought. However the naughty child while hugging him grabs the expensive pen from his shirt pocket. The indulgent father lets her have it.

Cut to a Ballet competition which has just concluded. Kids in
costumes and their doting parents can be seen all around. The daughter, now 8 years old, is a bit sad as the trophy she has won is much smaller than the girl next to her. As the father picks her up in his arms, she grabs the thin red pocket camera from his shirt pocket and she smiles radiantly. The indulgent father smiles on.

Cut to the same girl now 14 years old and hugging her father. In the background we can see her boarding school/college. In the background, the chauffeur unloads the girl’s luggage from their Rolls Royce or Bentley car. The father gives her a chocolate as a gift . As she hugs him she takes his Vertu phone from his pocket and  runs to the nuns mischievously.

       Cut to the girl who is a young lady, around 22 years old, at an airport arrival terminal. She has returned having completed her studies abroad. She hugs her father and as usual pulls out something from his pocket that surprises her. Reveal that it is a photograph of a handsome young man. Her father gives her a knowing smile. Clearly he knows that she is going to go for what is in his pocket and that is why that photograph was there.

Comeback Shot:

I came up with this particularly brilliant comeback shot.

       The girl after marriage is leaving with her husband. She puts her hand again in her father’s pocket but this time she leaves something there. The father touches it and sees it is the same pen that she took from him years back along with a note that says …”thanks for everything you’ve done dad”..ends

My Ads......(My Portfolio)

Like Moths to a Flame......

We all follow the lives of celebrities vicariously and voraciously, but why? It is probably because we are trying to lead lives in parallel to them, albeit in imagination. We slip into the shoes of celebrities to escape from the daily grind of our lives, to see how it would be to have a lifestyle like them, to see the places they go for vacation, the parties they attend….

Whether we are at a party or office, the hot topic of conversation is Bollywood, whether Aamir Khan did the right thing by baring his body? How many tattoos has Deepika Padukone got? Well why do y’all care, and I applaud the judge who ruled against the frivolous case slapped against Aamir Khan, he said about the controversial poster (the judge)… “If you don’t like, just don’t see….”

Each and every one of us seeks reassurance and wants others to appreciate our work. With the emergence of internet and social media, every man (or woman, I don’t want to lose my female readers!) has become a publisher in his own right. They have an instant platform to voice their opinions. They voice their opinions in their blogs, Facebook posts, Twitter etc. They become minor celebrities by the number of likes, shares or followers on Facebook and Twitter. That includes me…why do you thing I am writing this..!?

Coming back to the question of our celebrity obsession…. it is not like it began only yesterday. It has been there for ages. David became a celebrity by slaying Goliath, Swami Vivekananda was a celebrity in his time, and so was Rabindra Nath Tagore. Only now, there is media attention like never before. With Twitter and Facebook in the hands of celebrities (also non-celebrities), there are so many instant updates. So much so that we know when Salman Khan or Kareena Kapoor has used the restroom!

Moving one step ahead, we are now moving into a ‘viral’ culture. With YouTube videos or Facebook/Twitter posts going viral, sometimes even a non-entity can become famous overnight. Case in point: Psy from Gangnam Style. But where is Psy now…? Have you ever wondered..? Yes…that’s right….it is like …Popcorn Cinema…once you come out of the theatre you forget the movie…..likewise we all have forgotten Psy.

Fame can be ephemeral for some, while it can last a lifetime for others. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what you are famous for, fame is like a magnet and it draws us like moths to a flame. With luck, maybe we will get our fifteen minutes of fame too.

When writing this I didn’t expect it to get so long….if you are still with me, there is a post script.

P.S

“The best kind of fame is a writer’s fame, enough to get a table for you in a restaurant but not a crowd around you”

(I read this somewhere a long time ago….. besides a little bit of self-promotion helps too!)

My friend had shared this picture on Facebook, which I just love. I have added copy each, one in English and an other one in Tamil. I think both aptly fit the photo.

The first one is a tribute to Frost and the second one to what they call "Pamara Makkal" in Tamil. Loosely translated "Pamara Makkal" means simpletons or simple folks.

Is Success relative...?

How would you define ’Success’? It’s a relative term, what means ’success’ for some may not be true for others. There is even a joke about success being relative, “More the success, More the relatives”. For some success means climbing Mount Everest, for others success means becoming a millionaire. Some have found success in home based businesses or garage-startups while others have found success by starting an industry.

Nobody goes out to become a failure, circumstances and luck play an important part too. There are umpteen sayings about success like “Failures are the stepping stones to success” but these have been repeated so often that they have become cliché. People just don’t pay attention to them anymore. May be that’s the reason why every other day a book about success gets published. Only they change the title into a fancy name like ’Chicken Soup for the Soul’ or something of that kind. We are all in search for that elusive thing called ’success’, but Hey…it may not be so elusive after all, it may just be around the corner, so just hold on to your seat belts folks…That's all folks....have a good one.!!!