Sulekha.com's 'Arjuna the Archer' scores another metal

The ad film has bagged an award at the Holland Animation Film Festival

'Arjuna the Archer' has scored one more accolade, this time at the Holland Animation Film Festival in the Commercial category. The unusual ad concept for Sulekha.com (created by JWT and Famous House of Animation) has been inspired from 'Patha Chitra Katha' or the ancient art form with carvings on a palm leaf.

The TV commercial has a mythical setting with mythological character Arjuna as the centre point, who is on his way to meet his beloved. The thought of being late for the meeting scares him and hence, he starts shooting 'wishing arrows' towards the sky, with all his wishes getting granted one by one in the form of aids to help his journey along, including bicycles and motorcycles.

The wish list never ends for Arjuna and even after getting married, he keeps shooting the arrows upwards to get the comforts of life such as a house, furniture and a car, till he is finally satisfied with a big, happy family. In the end, the arrow going upwards shows which 'divine' entity was answering his prayers: the logo of Sulekha.com.

As is obvious, the ad pegs Sulekha as a divine entity granting all the transactional wishes of people. The ad film has been animated by E Suresh, creative director, Famous House of Animation.

Suresh says, "The recognition bestowed by the Holland Animation Film Festival means a lot as the competition was on a global level, judged by the international jury. Finally, the industry is maturing and emerging to compete in an expansive manner."

The TVC took almost three months in the making and the creative brain behind it was Senthil Kumar, executive creative director, JWT (the creative agency for Sulekha.com).

The ad has won several awards since its release more than a year ago. These include a bronze Lion at the Cannes 2009, silver and bronze at Adfest 2009, the Audience Award at Anifest, the Best Ad award at FICCI BAF 2009 and the Best Animated Television Commercial award at the Golden Cursor Animated Awards.

The winning saga doesn't end here as the ad is published in the Archive Magazine and has a history of nominations at various ad festivals since it got released last year. By winning at the Holland Animation Film Festival, 'Arjuna the Archer' has added one more feather to its cap.