Upcoming movie Gully Boy influences ads and copywriting

Having created buzz online, the movie has pushed Mumbai's underground rap culture to the fore and brands are trying to capitalise on it.

When lesser known Indian underground sub-cultures enter Bollywood, their stories tend to seep into the mainstream and for a moment, they feel like something brand new.

That's quite true for the upcoming Bollywood movie, 'Gully Boy', featuring Ranveer Singh. The movie brings to light Mumbai's underground rap music scene i.e. 'Gully Rap'. While yet to be released, the movie's promotions have already created a lot of buzz, both online and off.

Brands are out to make the most of it before all the noise dies down. We spotted a couple of early birds who came up with brand campaigns laced with the music genre also featuring an artist.

Emiway Bantai for Big Bazaar's Sabse Saste 5 Din

The hottest example is Future Group's hypermarket chain, Big Bazaar's latest ad. The digital ad features Bilal Shaikh, an Indian rapper, better known by his stage name - Emiway Bantai. The entire ad copy is essentially an extended rap lyric about Big Bazaar's 'Sabse Saste 5 Din' sale. The copy also borrows from 'Samajh Me Aaya Kya', one of Emiway's hit singles. The ad has been conceptualised by Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi.

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"With the buzzing rap culture catching the fancy of the entire nation, we chose to do a 'rap' to announce the launch of Sabse Saste 5 Din with Emiway," says Pawan Sarda, head of digital, Future Group, in a press release.

Train Mein Hai Swag - ixigo's new rap

Next up is travel aggregator brand ixigo's #TrainMeinSwag. The ad film was launched for the ixigo trains app. It is an extension of the brand's first trains video, launched last Republic Day - 'Train Mein Hai Ghar Wali Baat'. While the previous ad, featuring actor Sanjay Mishra, was more of a poetic narration of experiences, the latest film is a rap about the same. Conceptualised and produced in-house, the copy for #TrainMeinSwag is also a rap lyric (in line with the Gully Boy buzz) which features typical Indian train experiences. The brand also claims the ad to be a Republic Day special communication, just like the one launched last year.