Centre fresh

Ogilvy and Mather

Okay, it was a really close tie between the “pass the baby” ad for the Maruti service

Sonia Bhatnagar. Vice-president and senior creative director, JWT India

station , the “fastest indian” ad for Bajaj Pulsar and “C’mon India, baatein kum, kaam zyada (talk less, work more)” for Centre fresh. And the winner is… the ad for Centre fresh! Simply because it’s the ad I want to see again and again, grinning like a jackass each time, at different things. The marvellous different localized accents, the casting, the music treatment, the performances… It’s hugely rewarding on every viewing. Most ticklingly, it’s so true of us Indians. We truly are a nation that loves to jabber, no matter how unsuitable the occasion might be. My favourite snippet in the film is the surgeon one. I can almost see the poor patient lying all cut up in bed while the docs listen most attentively to the surgeon’s latest acquisition by the riverside. And my least favourite is the cricketers, and that’s the only one I would have done differently because it’s kind of expected. Unlike the others. I also like the slant they’ve given to their ‘zabaan ko de lagaam’ (mind your tongue ) thought. Made it bigger, in fact, by keeping it socially relevant. But that seems to be the hot new trend these days. Don’t mind it one bit.