Indian TV ads reviewed - #003 - Tanishq Diamond Jewellery

These ads from Tanishq featuring Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan are really cool.

Since there is only so much you can do when it comes to jewellery ads, most of the ads cater only to the emotional aspect - either mushy with young couples or sentimental with family angle.
So, it was quite refreshing to see this first ad and then this follow-up.
It catered to the romantic angle without getting mushy, was funny overall thanks to both AB and JB, talked about the technicalities of the product, indicated that their sales personnel are aware of what they sell and of course, it still stuck to the stereotypes (women always like diamonds and want more of it).

A really good series of ads.

Indian TV ads reviewed - #002 - Tata Docomo

Tata Docomo's latest set of ads with the tag line of "The network that always connects. Everywhere" appear to be good. You can see them all here.

It is not a single ad and is a series featuring some very different situations where one doesn't want to be connected and yet, gets a call. 

You can argue that the "Everywhere" situations shown in the ad are not all places where it is difficult to get calls.  And you are right. This series doesn't show people getting calls while inside an elevator. Or inside a tunnel. But then, even in the heart of the city, sometimes the signal is poor, so we can excuse that aspect. 

However, there are a couple of ads in the series, which seem to be a little offensive. The Tamil guy stopping his wedding ritual to attend a call, didn't look good. Similarly, showing the maid-servant stealing a phone was not in good taste. And the rocking car one, could have been avoided. 

In terms of fun/humor this series of ads are spot on. And it scores even in conveying the main message. A welcome relief from the earlier sets featuring Ranbir Kapoor's stand-up comedy. 

Indian TV ads reviewed - #001 - Bisleri

I am referring to this ad

The ad attempts a twist on the the tag-line/catch-phrase of staying protected with Bisleri.
The thought of doing the twist is good, otherwise the ad would have been quite plain.
But I didn't like the execution.
I wasn't sure if the setting was Arabic (the men looked like ancient Mughals) or Chinese (the dragon was clearly Mongoloid and the paintings shown at the start of the ad looked Chinese).

I didn't like the ad, but didn't hate it either.

P.S.: Yes, I have started reviewing ads. 

80K to 2K in 7 years

More than 7 years ago, I returned to India after spending the previous 3 years in the City of Angels a.k.a Los Angeles.

As part of the settling back process in India, I wanted to go in for a big screen television set. A 29" TV, at that time, was considered to be a slightly up-market item and since I was the typical "US-returned" guy, I sure wanted to own one.

So, I dragged my folks along to the Sony World showroom in R.A.Puram and looked around for big screen TVs. They had one 29" TV with Picture-In-Picture and I decided to go for it.

The problem, as my parents saw it, was the TV cost almost Rs.80,000.00. Yes, Rupees Eighty Thousand only. But in my thought process I was, like, "Haey, that's just $2,000.00". And much to the chagrin of my parents, I was very firm on buying it. And I did.

Please note that it was a regular picture-tube based TV and not any of those LED/LCD/Projector TVs that had started making their appearance in the market. But all that I saw in those initial days of returning from the US, was having lot of money and some freedom to spend it!

We have had that TV till today. It was very much in working condition till about a couple of years back, when a small patch of green started appearing in the left bottom corner of the screen. It wouldn't really be visible, unless the program being watched had an image in white color in that area. The Sony service folks couldn't do anything about it and so we just let it be.

Around that time, I decided to have a second TV and got me a Panasonic. This one too was a 29", but cost me only Rs.17,000.00. So, the Sony was left in the first floor of my house for the occasional viewing. That too, was done mainly by my mother, who after the "thief incident", stopped going upstairs except to sleep.

So, the TV was lying idle for more than a year and a couple of months back, we found that it even refused to switch on. The Sony service guy checked it and said that it was time to scrap it. And that, at best, we could get around Rs.2,000.00.

We checked with some of the guys who buy used TVs and the best offer we got was Rs.2,000.00. So, finally, the great Sony 29" 80K INR TV was sold off for a whopping amount of 2K INR.

I have learnt my lesson very well. There is no point in spending that much money for any of these electronic equipment because there is absolutely no return for the investment. And worse, the cost of the product drops sharply every month and even worse, they drop sharper the minute I buy something.

I have pretty much stuck to that resolution and would of course be breaking it when the Apple iPhone 4 gets officially launched in India soon.

Random Observation # 050

Of late on all Tamizh TV channels, a statutory warning message appears on the screen, whenever they show movies or "serials" where the characters are either smoking or drinking or doing both.

While I appreciate the initiative of these channels, I also want them to put similar warning messages at appropriate times to promote the following two traffic safety norms:
1. Riding bikes without helmet
2. Driving cars without using seat belt

You are welcome to suggest more such instances for which warning messages can be shown.

What to write?

There are so many things going on around me that I am actually having a writer’s block as to what I should write in my blog. Let’s look at each of them:

The global economic meltdown:
I am not an expert to go into the reasons behind this collapse. Nor am I well versed to summarise the reasons provided by the experts over the past so many months. And I definitely cannot say with any kind of conviction that the worst has come or is yet to come. So you are better off asking for acting tips from Vijayakanth than checking up my blog to learn about the current economic situation.

The mosquito menace at home:
For the past few weeks, there is a steep increase in the influx of mosquitoes at home. It is a well known fact that the popular repellants like All Out and Good Knight have lost their potency in being effective mosquito killers. So the only options left in front of us are to swat them with our hands or use the hand-held bug zapper. The latter contraption, popularly known as the “கொசு bat” costs around Rs.150 and is extremely efficient in providing மோக்ஷம் to the insect. I have been using it quite extensively over the weekend and at one time, noticed fumes coming from the bat after a particularly large mosquito hit the circuit.

Shifting of IPL out of India:
Nothing in the recent past pleases me more than this news that is breaking out this evening. When the wheels of the 2nd version of this tournament started getting into motion, I distinctly remember Lalit Modi saying that the Government cannot push the country to a standstill due to the General Elections. I felt it was a highly irresponsible statement and was clearly made by someone whose only purpose in life seemed to be chasing the moolaah. And to all the great citizens of this country who are saying that the terrorists have won because of the Government’s decision to not provide security, I have only one request – please remove your head out of the sand lest you start physically resembling the ostrich. I think when the drama surrounding this decision starts unfolding in the days to come, I will surely have something more to write here.

General Elections:
The General Elections are round the corner. There is a lot of political realignment going on, so it is too early for me to give my predictions. But I can definitely tell you what I want. I want the BJP to return to power. And for BJP to win (this may elicit a “Duh!” response from you) Congress and its allies need to lose. And my vote would very much be based on that policy.

Engae Brahmannan:
I have finally bitten the Tamizh Soap Opera (தொலைக்காட்சி நெடும் தொடர் ) bug. As long as I return home at a favorable hour, I make it a point to watch this serial. And it is not for the story, but more for the interesting interlude that Cho provides in the middle of each episode. I am a big fan of his and of late have started getting a strong desire to read the books he has published. Coming back to the serial, everyone says that the chap who comes as Ashok is doing a good job. But I beg to differ. I just don’t like his voice and modulation. And many times, I find his body language contradicting his mental make-up.

Freecell:
My latest addiction is to play this very traditional game that comes with Windows. I have now played around 275+ games and my winning percentage is 77%. Am trying to get it to the 80%+ mark, but it is getting very difficult!

Twitter:
I signed up to this service today. Don’t know how effective it is going to be considering that sending updates by SMS is going to cost at least 10 bucks every time, since it involves a special number. Their site doesn’t seem to be WAP enabled, so I may not find twitter that useful. Anyway, I will let time decide that.

Temple visits:
Believe it or not, I actually had 2 temple visits in a 15-day span this month. The first one was to the ஆறுபடையப்பன் Temple in Besant Nagar on the 8th and yesterday evening, I was goaded to visit the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthana Temple on Venkatnarayana Road. I really cannot remember me visiting temples at this frequency. I am probably getting old!

So as you can see, these are pretty much the type of things that I normally write a lot about. But due to some mental block accompanied by a return of the wrist pain, I am holding myself back a little. Hopefully, I should be able to write a proper post soon and as mentioned earlier, the IPL drama will give me enough ammunition to do so.

Karna and me on the same boat

There is this story in the MahaBharata, where Guru Dronacharya curses Karna that when he needed it the most, he'd forget how to use the Brahmastra. The Guru gave this curse because Karna lied about his lineage to learn from the great master. The master considered this as an act of treason and hence gave Karna this curse.

I committed a similar act of treason recently and the very purpose for which I did it is now lost on me.

There is this ad promoting Sun TV's DTH service that keeps getting shown on the Sun network. Those familiar with the ad would know that it features my current dream-girl Tamanna. The ad has a digitally altered voice in the jingle and added to the fact that I am totally distracted when she is on screen, I have not been able to follow what is being said, or rather sung, in the ad.

Apart from the "Veetukku veedu Sun Direct" part, I couldn't decipher anything. My mother has been constantly asking me to interpret the words and like I mentioned before, I have been unable to decode the words since my brain was allocating all available resources to my eyes to see Tamanna.

But yesterday, after her incessant pleas, I decided to really help my mother. And so believe it or not, I did THE blasphemous act and closed my eyes when the ad came up. And lo!, I was able to understand some of the words in the ad. However with overwhelming guilt getting added to my really bad memory and probably some higher power cursing me for this act, I now don't remember the words at all. I just know that there was an "adhiradee service" somewhere, but there is nothing else left in my memory.

Serves me right for closing my eyes when Tamanna was on screen.

Its good to be back!

As part of the painting job that's going on in my house, I had to pack up my "office room" on Wednesday. That in effect meant that I had to dismantle the whole computer setup I had done in one portion of the room. Speakers, Webcams, Keyboards, Printers and some stuff that I didn't know that I possessed - all had to be moved to a box.

But the most important thing that also went into the box was my modem and the ADSL splitter; in other words, I was unwiring myself from the Matrix!

I did all this under the assumption that they would move to that room on Thursday and get out by Saturday. Unfortunately, there was a change in plan and it was decided to take up that room as the last one in the house. And the work on that room has started only around 4 PM Sunday (few minutes back).

The point to be noted is that since the painters took over the hall as well, I lost out my Tata Sky connection too. So, I had to spend a good portion of Friday night and Saturday browsing through the Tamizh and News channels available on my cable connection upstairs. (To be honest, the presence of Tata Sky would have given me some 15 more channels to browse, but still.....).

I got totally fed up with no Internet and no TV. So, this afternoon I opened the box where I had put in all my computer stuff and took out the aforementioned modem and splitter. Came to my room and hooked it up to the telephone jack. Connected it to my computer and voila, here I am, back on the Internet. I am feeling so happy.

But, it also makes me wonder how bad a life I am leading. Just 4 days of staying away from the Internet and 2 days of staying away from a DTH connection is making me feel that life is empty. Bring back the Internet and I feel like getting a shot in the arm.

As usual, this is a tussle between the brain and the heart. And as usual my heart wins!

Random Observation # 037

Why do we watch all these countless music competitions on TV?
Is it to really hear someone give a good rendition of a popular song or is it simply to pacify ourselves by understanding that there are 100s and 1000s of people who sing worse than us?
Needless to add, I simply detest these programmes irrespective of whether its American Idol or Ennodu Paattu Paadungall!

Jai Shri Ram - The power of Lord Rama

Before you start making any assumptions that this is a religious/spiritual post, please be advised that you are making a mistake.

As most of you know, Ramanad Sagar's "Ramayan" - arguably the most popular television series in India - is now being relaunched by the same people who created the original version. Apparently, they want to milk the Indian audience who never tires of such magnum opuses.

But what really interested me is that Sun TV is now telecasting this serial after dubbing it in Tamizh. I know their channel war with Kalaignar TV is going on at a similar pace as the Israel-Palestine war. But I think Sun TV has now issued the biggest challenge to Kalaignar TV, by telecasting a series of a Hindu God and that too, the God whom the DMK and cohorts are known to abhor to the core. The interesting twist is also that the DMK is doing its level best to demolish the "Ramar Paalam" alias "Adam's Bridge" under the guise of launching the ridiculous Sethu Samudram project. So, would Kalaignar TV get the Tamizh rights for the Mahabharatham series that is also under Production?

Whatever it might be, my mother is watching the first episode right now (which is probably what prompted me to write this blog) and I actually hear my father's voice in the same room. She has been talking about watching it for more than a week now and at some level, I am happy that she is not watching one of this $hitty Tamizh serials, which btw, has a huge fan base amongst even some of the guys in my circle of friends at work (they discuss the plot and also catch up with one another whenever they miss watching one episode!).

Statistics for an earlier article

More than a month back, I posted this article where I mentioned about the insane number of advertisements that are shown while movies are telecast on festival days.

At 6 PM today, Sun TV started telecasting the movie 'Vettaiyadu Villayadu'. When the first interruption for advertisements started, I decided to clock the telecast and here are the results (in minutes):

1. Advertisements = 06:08.7 (I didn't start the stop clock until the 2nd ad)
2. Movie = 17:27.5
3. Ad = 06:49.6
4. Movie = 17:14.6
5. Ad = 06:22.4
6. Movie = 14:07.0
7. Ad = 05:56.1

The time here could be off by a couple of seconds here and there, since I have to first react to the interruption and then press appropriate keys in the stopwatch.
They then went off to the 7.30 PM news. Dunno if they are going to resume the movie after few more ads!!!

Kinda related note: I'm liking the movie so far. :)

Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot

Dunno how many of you remember growing up, watching this amazing television series. The sets, stunts and special effects left us spellbound those days - mid 80s I guess.
There were times when all of us kids used to walk around like the Giant Robot and we would all imitate all its movements.
I have vague memories of feeling sad that the Giant Robot finally died.

If they telecast this on TV, I think I will surely watch it once again.

You can look up these links for videos and also more info about the series.

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4

Link 1
Link 2

Serial Victim

Its my father.

For the past two weeks, he has been having a bit of a bother in the lower back. So his evening walk to the temple added with grocery shopping, has been reduced a lot.

Turns out that since he was kinda immobile in the evenings and he also had the misfortune of having to spend some time in the living room.

That's also the time when my mother watches one of her daily diet of 3 serials. One at 6.30 PM, next at 8.30 PM and the last at 9.00 PM.

In effect, it meant that my pops had to watch the TV at 6.30. Normally he would have walked away from the room. But due to his back pain, he couldn't take that course of action and had to sit there.

Just like many people start picking up an alcohol habit under the guise of being social drinkers, my naina is now an avid watcher of that serial. According to him, it does not have too much of yelling, not much of kozhai adi sandai and the actors/characters are normal.

I have observed similar behavior in people who convert into a religion or adopt a new principle in life or begin following a new guruji. They are basically the marketing arm of the new area.

My mom was telling me that one day last week, he was asking her if he had enough time to go out and come back before the serial started. And a day or two ago, he's apparently asked her if she knows how to record the program in case he is not in the house.

I am now really scared. Looks like I am losing my only supporter in this house!

Indian Government bans AXN TV channel

Why? Because they showed some indecent program!!!

News in NDTV
News in Washington Times


Seriously, is the I&B minister at the Centre crazy? What kind of whack job is he?

If you ask me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with AXN broadcasting that program. They actually telecast it late in the night (according to another news report), at a time-slot when they are permitted to do so.

Then why is this guy acting like this? If the erstwhile NDA Government or any of its constituents had done such a thing, just imagine what kind of hue and cry would have been raised by the "intellectuals". How much objection would have come up against the "moral policing". You don't have to wait long. We are only 3-4 weeks away from Valentine's Day. Just watch the way people react to the Shiv Sena.

But now, hardly few people even know about this blackout. Why don't the usual Arundhati Roys and Amartya Sens talk about this? They wont. They are just unofficial mouthpieces of the Congress/Communists.

And the political opposition aside, my personal opinion is that the ministry is having double standards. Reasons:
""AXN is banned for showing 'World's Sexiest Advertisements'. This was not a program that promoted any amoral activity. It was just a collection of ads that were just sexy.""

1. The ministry has absolutely no objection to the gazillions of serials (soap operas) being made in all the Indian languages, telecast in each and every channel that is currently being beamed on Indian airspace and beyond. Each of these serials have characters with extra marital affairs. Which is accepted by other principal characters. So many women are portrayed as being the embodiments of cruelty. If you know Tamizh, this link will give you more details.
So its ok for these channels to continue right? Including DD?

2. I am also peeved by the number of ads for condoms that are now being showed even during prime time. These aren't the educatory ones that used to come out some 10-15 years ago, where the Government mainly talked about various forms of birth control. They only said that condoms were one option. They did talk about other methods too.
But these days, I see that condom ads from the private manufacturers simply advertise their product. Nothing wrong per se. But then there are ads on TV for flavored condoms - try watching those ads with an inquisitive kid of 11 or 12 (on a side note, you don't get kids of any other type at that age) and then tell me how embarrassed you were.
I have a similar opinion about the seemingly endless number of sanitary napkin ads that are on air with good practical demonstrations, so that the viewers also can 'absorb' necessary information.
So is it ok to put such ads during prime time on all channels? Including DD?

3. What about the numerous movies that came out in Hindi a couple of years ago. Invariably the wife has an extra-marital affair and plots to finish off the husband? Just because you give an "A" certificate for the movie, doesn't make it a socially acceptable movie. Or one that spreads great morals.
Why don't you have your censor board ban such movies.

4. Next the radio. I dunno how many of you hear the local FM stations. Many of them play English songs at some time or the other. Invariably, they feature quite a lot of Hip-Hop, especially the type I like. As you might already know, if there is no use of the F word with its prefixes and suffixes, then it doesn't even qualify as a Hip-Hop song. So all these stations play the song, without any censorship of all these foul swear words. I have heard quite a lot of F and MF on FM radio. In fact, on AIR's stations themselves.
So will they ban AIR itself?
5. I don't even have to start off on Fashion TV right?
6. Almost every other program from Hollywood, will have a sex scene. Or at least lotsa kissing and cuddling etc. This is both in Movies and TV serials. In fact, the episode of "Friends" - which is the barometer for teenyboppers - I saw today, had Ross discuss threesomes with Joey.
So will the ministry ban all channels that air original English content?
7. Does the minstry have any clue about what the Energiser bunny acutally represents? Will they ban all channles that display that ad?

I can go on and on with various other details. But the point is, I am totally opposed to such bans because it wreaks of double standard. Of the highest order.

Probably, the ministry wants us to return to the days where the hero and heroine in a movie come very close to each other in a song, and u see a violent shaking of flowers on screen.

Random Jotting # 003

Saw this listing in Kalki - last week's issue.
They've listed out the top 'serials' in Tamizh and mapped them against different characteristics. Quite an interesting table.