Not Just Ads

There are ads, there are ads and there are more ads. You pick the newspaper and it’s staring at your face, you take a cab and the huge monster looks down on you, you settle for a movie with a friend there again it’s there. Finally you get back home and decide to watch your favourite show in peace. One, two, three, four – they are continuously stalking you.

Use this cream and you’ll be beautiful. Bathe with that soap and feel like a star. Spray this deo and the girls will be crazy for you. It goes on and on. And then suddenly you see a piece of magic. It might make you smile or make you teary eyed but most importantly it makes you think.

They are not just ads they are movements, media activism at its best. We bring to you five ads we think changed the way we look at ads.

1)      Tum Chalo to Hindustan Chale (Lead India, TOI)

How often we are guilty of complaining about the state of affairs of our country. Roads, trains, taxes, politicians, traffic – everything we hate. But what do we do about it?

This 2009 ad for Times of India’s Lead India campaign tells you to be the change you want to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-gvE7MGIBw

2)      A wedding to remember (Tanishq Jewellery)

This ad stood against so many taboos. A dusky bride who has a daughter from her previous marriage and she marries again. The groom doesn’t just take her to be his wife but her daughter to be his.  In the clutter of ads this 2013 ad for Tanishq Jewellery is a breath of fresh air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P76E6b7SQs8

3)      Google Reunion (Google India)

Breaking barriers literally! Two friends who separate due to the India-Pakistan partition reunite after years. Is it just a story of two friends or a story of two nations? Released in the online space only, it became the most shared ad of 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE

4)      Jaago Re (Tata Tea)

Launched well before the 2009 elections, this ad encouraged ignorant Indian citizens to vote. It was an eye-opener of sorts. The campaign didn’t limit itself to an ad.  It followed with support in terms registration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkMnM2dznuU

5)      Help a child reach 5 (Lifebuoy)

This ad is set in Thesgora, a village with the highest rates of diarrhoe in India. A man walks right from his house to village temple on his hands.  A mob follows him as though it is a celebration, a feast. It’s all to celebrate his son turn 5, his only child to survive till that age. Lifebuoy donated to the cause a rupee for every share of the ad on social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF7oU_YSbBQ

Aparna Shukla

Aparna Shukla

This is an excerpt from my diary. Closest I could get to make you guys feel what I felt.

Tilo was jolted out of her sleep. She was sweating mildly and was still on her bed. She had the same dream again where she falls off a cliff and is shaken up on her bed. Mom says it’s a very common dream and one shouldn’t be scared of it.  

Obviously mom doesn’t care about her, she’s her least favorite child. Arvindo and Rupa di are the one’s she loves most. They are in one team, Rupa di, ma and even the stupid arvindo. She wishes Baba would be home more often to take her side. Baba loves her and that’s why he’s come home only for her birthday with the most beautiful cake she has ever seen; it’s a two storey vanilla with strawberry slices all around it.

The thought of the cake makes her jump out the bed and run towards the kitchen to have a look at it.  She thumps down noisily from the stairs, maa’s reading her morning newspaper. She  bolts into the kitchen so fast that she bangs on cupboard. She looks at maa once but she still is busy reading. Tillo opens the door to the most beautiful cake ever made. She looks at the white icing and the missing strawberry and three big ugly finger marks!

They have had it this time, both of them arvindo and rupa di. She runs out into the garden and yells angrily at arvindo, she tells him how stupid a boy he is but arvindo doesn’t care and keeps looking elsewhere. How can they spoil the cake, her birthday cake! She’s in tears as she turns to rupa di. She shouts at her bursting into tears but that has no effect on di, she’s smiling, not even looking at her.

She calls on for maa. She rushes back to Maa, she’s reading her newspaper,she cries how cruel both her siblings are and  how badly they have spoilt the cake  but  Maa doesn’t care, she doesn’t move, she’s still reading. Tillo angrily tries to push ma to look at her but she still wont move, she’s frozen! Tillo looks out of the window and neither of her siblings are moving. She runs upstairs to wake baba up. There’s no one in the room, baba has left, his luggage is gone. He would now never return. How will she cut the cake now? She thinks, maybe baba died, . She is climbing down to the kitchen when It strikes her how lonely is right now. She starts sobbing out of fear and fat drops of tears roll down her eyes. What would happen now? How will she live alone? As she climbs down the third step her body loses control and she slips. She can feel her body move up in the air ready to hit the stair case and she’s jolted out of her sleep. She was sweating mildly and was still on her bed. She had the same dream again  but  Mom says it’s a very common dream and one shouldn’t be scared of it.  

Vanessa Carvalho

Dikshita Karopady

Brenna Ribeiro

Mamta Kalambe

Brenna Ribeiro

A young woman with whitish make up that makes her look scary stares upwards. She is at a lower level and so its like a top angle shot. Everything around her is dark. She is wearing something that can be called a cluster of white threads. Its looks very much like fur but it isn't.

Still staring she gives a wicked smile and turns around. Slowly then faster she starts spinning around.  All I can see now is the white threads moving in circular pattern like in a washing machine.

This movement suddenly transforms to a relatively straighter movement along a curvy path like a river. From the initial spin of the woman to this, the speed of motion increases at each level.

The river-like movement of the threads tranforms into a real river. And now finally the surrounding is not just darkness. The river flows along small rocks hitting it and creating a splash as it moves ahead.

Now I see the bank of the river. The noise of the speeding waves is gone. The water is moving very slowly, it's more or less silent.

The bank is of mud and small stones. Not too far are hills, many hills. It appears to be evening time. A young women trembling, scared is running down a hill. She is wearing a salwar kameez and has bruise marks. She keeps turning around as though to see something. There are a lot trees and shrubs on the hill. A man is chasing her. He's not too far from her.

He's dressed in a blue kurta and has shoulder length grey hair. He looks straight at me with eyes wide open reminding me of the scary woman's stare.

Another man with the same hairstyle but a few grey strands is now staring at me through a huge glass window. This man is standing in a small room which is on a ground floor.

The room is all wood and glass. The external wall, the internal walls, the flooring its all wood. There is a door and an unusually big window in the external wall, both in glass. Through the glass you can see the full room which is dimly lit and the man is staring.

The same stare that the two men gave is given by a third man. The young man is standing in a narrow lane with buildings on both sides. It is night time. He has the same hairstyle as the two older men but with no grey. He is Shahid Kapoor.

It's early morning in a chawl. Wooden railings and stairs from where I can see doors, many doors. The wood here is of the colour of dark chocolate while that in the wooden house of the second man was coffee color. A woman is putting clothes to dry on a rope. I don't see her face.

*I am the third person in the dream. I don't see myself at any point.
* Blame it on Group 3. I guess all the mystery and horror stories we are working on is spilling onto my dreams. :D

Mamta Kalambe

Sitting alone on an open ground I see this immense landscape that captivates my eyes.It must have been one of the most beautiful sight that has ever met my eyes. Or should I say my mind? Because this was a dream. I wish this was reality. Why wouldn't I! After all reality doesn't seem so beautiful. And to escape reality we often day dream.At least I do.
Now getting back to my dream. This dream was most beautiful one and hence sharing it. However this isn't a recent dream, I got this dream last month. I reminiscence a few scenes from it.

I am lying on a ground, no thoughts in my mind. Absolutely still. I am watching at the expanse of the sky. I know I have seen the sky a million times but it still brings that feeling of ecstasy. The sky for me is a roof which holds the world together as one family. It reminds me that I am not alone here. I share this space with others too.
My arms wide spread, rub against the coarse ground as I move them. The texture of the ground comforts me. I gradually fold my arms to sit upright now. The scene that next meets my eyes is breath taking. I see a white horse towards my left. The horse's tail sways smoothly, its flow just like that of river water. The The movement of its feet are in rhythm to the sounds of nature. Its white colour stands out from the orangish hue of the sunlight in the background. This elegant yet powerful animal transports me to a realm of tranquility. Adoring the pleasant sight of the horse my eyes now move to the green pastures around it. There are parallel rigid trees on the right. A soft sunlight escapes through the branches. The tress evoke a sense of support in me. Now I look around even more, scrutinizing the environment around me. The trees seem to be on the edge of a mountain. The bright sunlight seems to be calling me. I still sit still, mesmerized by this beauty of nature. I still think what lies beyond. Maybe another heaven awaits for me.

I got up with a smile on my face. Thinking it is time to travel, travel in search for the place that I dreamt of. My alarm rings and reality hits me...it was time to get ready for college!

Farah