By Preksha Malu
A man from Pakistan has been saving up his firecrackers to burst them when his home country finally beats India in a World Cup match. Although India have won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 match against Pakistan, the man has not given up: he has been travelling with his firecrackers, searching for a ‘mauka‘ (opportunity) to see India beaten. The man in question is from the ‘mauka mauka‘ ads that have gone viral on the internet with response videos coming from India, Pakistan, UAE and elsewhere. READ: Star Sports mocks India’s poor World Cup record vs South Africa in new TV ad
The creative team for cricket at Star Sports came up with ‘mauka’ ads in January where around six people from the internal creative team scripted the idea on the brief they received from their marketing team. They had to keep the statistics in mind and they found the final results satisfying. “The music told us it was going to be a hit and the final cut was hilarious. We knew it would go viral but the Sunday match was an eye-opener. The response till Monday had blown us away,” said Juju Basu, the creative head of the team. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS
The lyricist of the song coined the term Mauka. “World Cup is a chance that comes once in four years and Pakistan has been waiting for a win for the last 20 years. The only time when Indians burst more firecrackers than Diwali is during a World Cup match. In India, we don’t care if we win the World Cup but the sentiment is that we shouldn’t lose to Pakistan. There were a lot of emotions attached to this match which we tried to incorporate in the ad,” said the lyricist who while commuting in the train with his colleague found a man whistling the tune. “I asked him what are you singing and do you like it and he said of course mauka mauka! Its correct,” he smiled. READ: India vs Pakistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Our celebrations and your “kab phorengey”
“If you see the ad we haven’t stereotyped Pakistan with any symbolism of it being a Muslim country or any skullcap. We love Pakistan and the best responses according to me have come from there. The ad doesn’t poke fun at them because the statistics are true and they cant do anything about it. It feels great to see them commenting and liking our effort. The next ads with South Africa and UAE theme were also well-received because we have been democratic in the sense that we poke fun at ourselves and our Indian team too,” said a copywriter. The team had planned just one commercial but the response to that made them continue the trend.
The term ‘mauka‘ has been used by various news channels, newspapers, digital media and was trending feverishly on twitter on the days of India’s matches. Even cartoons in daily newspapers and animated videos by fans have cashed in on the term. The creative team is over the moon (and rightly so) as one of the copywriter calls it the World Cup of their careers. The internal creative team at Star sports is only a year and half old according to them, and all of them come from advertising backgrounds. “We have been in a place where our previous employers told us to make ads like this or that company, make ads like this brand did, but finally our example is being used in other ad agencies and they are being told to make something like Mauka Mauka,” said another copywriter from the team who plays cricket with his colleagues at Oval Maidan.
The film was made by Bubblewrap productions, directed by Suresh Triveni and the UAE one directed by Ninad Chavan. “The director Suresh Triveni felt that the ad should have a background track with a music score and it should be played out like storytelling. He made sure there were no stereotypes with the main character applying kaajal or anything to give away religion. We had to make sure we didn’t hurt any religious or other sentiments,” said Ketaki Guhagarkar, producer from Bubblewrap Films. “Capturing 22 years of India Pakistan cricketing sentiments and narrating it in 60 seconds was a challenge. We were more than thrilled to take it up . Aakhir humara mauka aa gaya tha (as our opportunity had come),” said Triveni.
The music was composed by freelance music directors Rohan Utpat and Vinayak Salvi. “Both of us worked as finance analysts three years ago but quit it to follow music. We have made more than 350 tracks for ads in the past. The best memory of making the music in the Qawwali and Sufi space was convincing the singer. Alam Gir Khan is a folk singer from Chandigarh and when he heard the idea he refused to do it because he thought the ad was for Pakistan. We explained the entire idea again as to how it was for India and he was happy. He said he’ll give 1000 takes if required,” said Rohan and Vinayak.
When asked if they feel bad about their ads being spoofed or worry about the copyright issues with the title track being lifted by everybody, they remain calm and jubilant. “They can use it and spoof it as much as they want,” they say in unison. “We make ads to hold the interest of the viewer so that they don’t switch the channel. Now there is reverse pressure because the audience is asking for more ads,” said Basu.
Many people commented on social media after the Ind vs South Africa match when the commercial for India vs UAE was out that the match was fixed because no one could make a commercial so fast without knowing the results. The team said that they have options if the team wins, loses or there is a tie. Family, friends and relatives have been supportive to the team with congratulations pouring in although one of the copywriters mother was worried. “She thought someone from Pakistan will call me,” he laughed.
The creative team says that the actor in the ad is Vishal Malhotra and has been getting many offers to act after the ad. “His characters name is Sabaruddin Khan in the ad,” lets out the team.
(The writer works at DNA, where the above article first appeared)
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