How did Ashish Khazanchi crack the 'Jingalala' line?

Check out this excerpt from Pops' book '30 Second Thrillers' to find out.

KV Sridhar, aka Pops, founder and chief creative officer, Hyper Collective, a Mumbai-based agency, has penned a book on the stories behind some popular Indian 30-seconders. The book is titled '30 Second Thrillers'. An excerpt.

The Jingalala Moment

Ashish, I think, "Isko laga dala, toh life Jingalala" is one of the most popular slogans after radio days. A slogan, that may not make any sense but because of its phonetics, it has caught onto the imagination of everyone. It became so popular that even an Amul Hoarding was made for it!

How did such an entertaining idea dawn?

'Pops! It was also used in a Salman Khan movie. I feel, it became popular due to its sheer weirdness. "The once upon a time" of this ad starts, when Tata Sky was coming up with a new way of watching television. This was during the times, when people had cable connections, which aired seventy to eighty channels and were happy with it. Tata Sky intended to usher in a quantum leap on how television was being watched. There were some satellite television options, but they weren't really gaining success. This was because, they took the technology route to reach customers, and that route proved to have an intimidating effect on the customers. As for Tata Sky, we were very clear on the route we would take. It was to be of "More entertainment coming your way". Not just seventy - eighty channels, but now the audience would get three times more channels. Increased choices in terms of content - active learning, games, cricket from different angles; it was more than just channels! It was about entertainment. To communicate this variety of entertainment, we needed a line; a slogan. So we got thinking.'

That is when the line 'Jingalala' line came up?

'No! The first line we thought of was, 'Dish nahin, Dishkyaun hai yeh', a line that said - It isn't just a Dish connection, but a huge change in the way people consume entertainment! We at the agency level found this line very catchy and hence, we wrote many commercials around this line. We went and presented this line and the commercials to the clients. Vikram Kaushik and Vikram Mehra were the clients. After listening to the lines, they were a little apprehensive and said, "We are Tatas and we never take a dig at our competitors. We never denigrate them. It is against our company ethics." We were a bit confused as to which competitor are we taking a dig at? With this line? And they said, Dish TV. That is when we realized! Because, when we had written it, we had no reference to this angle. We were actually referring to the physical Dish Antenna. But yes, unintentionally it did turn out to be a competitive line. So now, we had to start from scratch.'

What happened next?

'One day, I was sitting at home and thinking as to, what can be done now? What will be that line which will be as much fun and also ridiculously squeaky? One that can hold all that the product has to offer. After a couple of attempts, I nailed it. For fun sake, I wrote the line, "Isko laga dala, toh life Jingalala" and found myself laughing out loud, alone, at my home. Immediately, I messaged Chax (KS Chakravarty) saying that I cracked it, and wrote the line. He replied with four to five smileys and said that he loved it. The next day, I shared the line within the office and everyone loved it and found it crazy. We went back and presented the entire communication plan to the client. Their immediate reaction was the best reaction; they started giggling and said, "Do it, it is very interesting". They also requested to come back with one more option, so that they have a benchmark against it. But it was obvious that they had liked the line; it came to everyone as an instinct!'

What was the other line you gave as an option?

'I guess it was, "Tata Sky ho sang, to gapu chi gapu chi gum gum."'

(Excerpt published with permission from Bloomsbury Publishing India).