Producer & Creative Director Ex-Head of Schbang Motion Pictures & Creative Director
We made a total of six films for Horlicks' Nurture the Curiosity campaign. Two of them feature Jehan Daruvala's story; the first, a main film that marries his story with a narrative we wanted to put forth, and the second, a testimonial film capturing his story the way he would tell it. The other four films were similar testimonials, but about young girls and boys with parents that nurtured their curiosities, be it chess, geology, diving, or playing the tabla. I enjoyed, as I always do, the film process (and working with my favourite production house always makes it even better) but what I thought was lovely was the opportunity to say something different, however slight. Advertising and through it, Indian households, push varying definitions of success and validation to the country's children. Parents push, or try to push, a child into a direction that they believe brings success. But times have changed; the things that make careers come alive, the very possibilities themselves, have changed. Skills that a person requires to thrive in a work environment have changed, and work environments have been more diverse. That was the basis of our campaign: the fact that there's most definitely a new wave in the professional world for the new generation, and that we wanted Horlicks to be at the crest of that wave. And so we focused on the emotional part of this story: that it's not simply about preparing your child for the future, but to do it in a way that is nurturing, holistic, and empowering. We had a little piece of magic to play with: the beauty that exists in childlike curiosity. We used it to paint a new picture of parenting: to guide and channel, rather than push and pull. The larger Horlicks objective was to encourage Millennial Moms to see this picture: that curiosity could, if nurtured and fuelled, turn into a passion that could eventually become a career. And wouldn't we want our kids making careers out of the things that pique their curiosity?
So, after months of chasing Jehan Daruvala's busy schedule, we ended up resorting to some clever tricks - a quick photoshoot with Jehan to accurately match his face, a body double and a bit of face swap magic to get the job done! Huge shoutout to Nikav Bharucha and Archana Goyal for sticking with it for months and finally bringing this film to life. Brand: HUL Production House: Schbang Motion Pictures Director: Ashwath Ram DOP: Harshvir Oberoi DOP (studio shoot): Sujay Pawar Executive Producer: Rachaita Vyas Associate Producer: Nikav Bharucha Line Production: Motionbulls Production Design: Redcube Design Studio (Swapnil Kenny) Costume Stylist: Vidhi Gurnani Music Director: The Jamroom (Rahul Pais) Editor: Naxie Colourist: Christian Leiva Online: After Studios CGI and Face Swapping: Famous Studios Body Double: Aashay Agency: Schbang EVP: Aayush Vyas Creative Director: Abhimanyu Balasubramanyam Creative Team: Simran Kulkarni, Inshirah Kazi Client Servicing Team: Archana Goyal and Nishchaya Sadhwani #schbang