The ad film 'Life In Your Day' has gone on air and suddenly, the classic song 'Bachke Rehna Re Baba' is on everyone's lips. The director of the ad film Dibakar Banerjee admits that it was quite a challenge to fit in a diverse company like Network 18 with so many brands under its umbrella in a 75-second film. According to Dibakar, everybody in the team liked the idea of song lingering through the ad film as a message to the target audience. Dibakar spoke to in.com about the making of the ad film and more. Here are excerpts from the interview...

The film is just 75 seconds long but we have heard that you have shot it almost like documentary?
Yes, we had shot this film over five days in Delhi and Mumbai. Most of the shots were done with actors, but there were lot of shots which were filmed spontaneously with people walking on the road. For example, there is a shot where you see a young guy tagging an uncle in a railway station. That shot was shot spontaneously at a railway station in Mumbai. We explained to a passenger that we wanted to shoot with him and he was game! Overall, the experience was fun!

What made you decide on the song 'Bachke Rehna Re Baba' as the anthem of the film?
I thought that this song connects with the target audience beautifully. I played out the song so many times in my head and thought that this would connect with everybody, especially when the ad is played out again and again on TV. Basically I was looking for some repeat value and this song had it. I discussed it with the team and everybody approved of it. Now when I see so many people reacting so positively to the film, I feel that my choice was right.

Fitting so many brands in a single video must have been a great challenge...
It was. Network 18 has so many diverse brands and every brand has carved out a niche in the market. Every Network 18 brand has touched our lives in its own way. I realized that there is not a single brand that hasn't touched my life and I need to incorporate every brand into the ad-film. So, I took some of the flag-ship brands and weaved the story together. The screenplay of the film was already there and it was handed over to me. I just needed to piece the story together in a way that holds the essence of what the screenplay wanted to communicate. The idea was to communicate about every brand and not leave even one behind because the idea is to talk about the expanse of the Network 18 family. If you look at the ad film closely, you will see that all the brand logos come up on the screen towards the end of the ad. This gives you a feeling about being a part of the Network 18 family even though you are not working for it. The ad says that every Indian is a part of Network 18 family as the brand has touched everybody's lives.

A still from the Network 18 TVC

We heard that you wanted to move away from concept of the ad becoming just a brand communication...
We didn't want to make it into a chest thumping declaration of how many brands are there in the Network 18 family. We wanted to make it a story of everybody's life. I realized that there a lot of people don't know that some of the brands being are a part of Network 18. Like I felt that a lot of people don't know that Colors, Forbes magazine are a part of Network 18. So, the story was of the film was weaved keeping that this brands should be introduced as a part of the Network 18 group. The idea was to say that if we could leave a mark on you every time we met, then the world will look something like this. I think this has been splendidly put across in the brand communication.

How do you switch over from being a filmmaker to being an ad filmmaker so easily?
Oh, I enjoy this conflict! I have always been an ad filmmaker before I joined the film industry and I love the challenges this job throws up. While creating these ads I feel that I am breaking the mould. I also created the Coca Cola ad with Kalki and Imran Khan which was quite different from what I created for Network 18. I get to explore the creative sides in me through these films. All I can tell you now that working for Network 18 was a real pleasure!

 

WATCH: Life In Your Day TVC