Goafest: Pops does a Deewar

Draftfcb Ulka has created a viral video of Deewar featuring K V Sridhar, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Indian subcontinent, as the angry young man.

The cult Deewar scene, where Amitabh Bachchan is seen climbing a temple's stairs slowly and then encountering Shiva's idol with the classic monologue, just got a new twist. To catch attention and create excitement about Goafest 2013, Draftfcb Ulka has come out with a series of three print ads and one video. And, guess what? K V Sridhar aka Pops, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett, Indian subcontinent, dons the role of Bachchan in this spoof.

This is the first time a teaser campaign has been created for Goafest. According to Arvind Sharma, president, AAAI, at some point a campaign on Goafest needed to be done. Apparently, the video is the only one released so far, prompting speculation on whether more films will follow.

The viral video, aimed at creating a buzz about Goafest, opens with a pair of legs slowly climbing the temple steps. As the man approaches the sanctum sanctorum, the background music builds up the intensity and seriousness of the scene. The man poses strategically in front of the Shiva idol, like the famous scene from original Bollywood movie. And, that's when Pops' face comes to the picture. In a husky, south Indian accent, he mouths the dialogue. When he gets to the part about how he has never asked any favour from the God but wants one now, Pops furnishes a white folded paper. Suddenly, the temple bells swing furiously and the lighted lamp is extinguished.

The list reads the agency's accounts, namely McDonald's, Coke, Samsung, Bajaj and Luxor. He also mentions Feviquik, immediately correcting himself to say, "Nahi, yeh apna nahi, Piyush (Pandey) ka hai." In a pleading voice, he then calls god's attention to the categories and asks, "Itne saare hai, kuch do dede baba. Dega na, hai?" The video ends with the Goafest logo.

Speaking to afaqs!, Sridhar says he was requested by Draftfcb Ulka to act in the video. When he heard the script he was a little sceptical as his command on Hindi isn't very good. "I used to do a lot of theatre, so acting wasn't a problem. My biggest fear though was the language, that too Amitabh Bachchan's Hindi. However, Chax (K S Chakravarthy, national creative director, Draftfcb Ulka) assured me that my south Indian accent will provide the comic relief," he says, adding, "I had no clue about my lines. There were guys hiding behind Shiva idol and telling me the lines. It was like a school play, where the teacher prompts the lines."

When asked whether the video shows the head of an agency begging for ads, Sridhar quips that the video is for internal consumption for the fraternity and is fun. Besides, he feels the ads have come at a right time with so much depression and gloom in the industry due to the developments in the recent weeks. "It brings cheer to people to prepare for Goafest," he opines.

In addition to the video on the Goafest website, the video received a number of comments when Sridhar put it up on his Facebook account. The print ads, which appeared in various publications, show ad veterans clicking photos with rising stars of the advertising world, with the punchline - New Stars. New Fans.