Time바카라�s Filter: Made For Each Other

Take Sasha Chettri, better known as the 바카라�Airtel 4G girl바카라�, a face that has colonised Indian ad spaces in the last four years. For Chettri, previously a brand strategist at a Mumbai-based production company, life changed dramatically almost overnight. For the 26-year-old from Dehradun, whose face launched a thousand ads for Airtel 4G, it seems like a 바카라�fairytale바카라�. 바카라�I had a fairly normal life before Airtel. I have worked for agencies, non-profits, production houses, and I used to moonlight as a musician on week­ends,바카라� Sasha says. Then, one day, a call from her friend, informing her about auditions at Airtel set the wheels in motion. From feeling like a misfit initially on the sets, Sasha is now pursuing a full-time career in not just acting, but in music too. 바카라�I am shooting for a Telugu film now and working on my music. It바카라�s unreal!바카라� she quips. But the fairytale comes with its share of poisoned apples and tricky snares. With social-media visibility comes the dangers of greater trolling, and the Airtel girl has had her share of it. 바카라�While many connect with that happy persona of mine, there바카라�s a disconnect, where people ask. 바카라�Yeh hai kaun? Yeh itni khush kyun hai?바카라� (Who바카라�s she? Why is she happy?) But that바카라�s just a character that I portray. However, I understand it, because if I had to see myself so many times on TV even I would feel that way,바카라� Sasha says. She also warns millenials of the emotional costs of high rec­og­nit­ion. 바카라�There were days I haven바카라�t gone out beca­use I was scared of the attention. I had to cha­­nge my look...I have no respite; I am everywhere!바카라�

Indian advertising had its watershed moment when in the 1970s, Alyque Padamsee launched Liril soap with his iconic advertisement, starring the 바카라�Liril girl바카라�, Karen Lunel. Clad in an emerald green swimsuit, frolicking under a crystal blue waterfall and smiling through the cascade of water crashing on her, Karen바카라�s 바카라�Liril girl바카라� may be construed as the image of the perfect male fantasy, but the ad, on the contrary, was said to have been a reflection of what women really wished for, that too while taking a shower, away from mundane drudgeries into a world of make-believe fun. 바카라�I always got positive reactions and I enjoyed being the face of the product. The ad was ahead of its time,바카라� Lunel, now a school teacher in New Zealand, tells Outlook. The ad catapulted the 20-year-old to stardom, turning her into one of the most recognisable faces in India. Before she joined Air India later as an air-hostess, Lunel continued to shoot for the ads regularly, from 1975 to 1983. 바카라�It was definitely challenging work, getting up at a stupid o바카라�clock, getting into a wet swimsuit in the freezing cold while shooting in Kodaikanal and Khandala and wrapping up in blankets between takes. We were determined to make the best of it...I had a blast while it lasted,바카라� says the lady with one of the first 바카라�viral바카라� faces of Indian advertising.

바카라�Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make,바카라� William Bernbach, legendary adman famously said. But, in the age of high-speed internet, the multiple mediums one is exposed to may consequently multiply the frequency at which a person meets the unfamiliar-yet-ubiquitous faces, thereby making people wonder who they are, or why they claim so much mindspace. Trivago바카라�s Abhinav Kumar may very well be able to explain this phenomenon. 바카라�I was the country developer for the Indian market at Trivago for over five years. Last year we were casting for an actor for our ads...the head of brand marketing suggested that I give it a go,바카라� says the puppetish and funny 바카라�Trivago guy바카라�, who is from Bihar. Currently resi­ding in Dusseldorf, Germany, Kumar바카라�s manne­red ways has been widely trolled and memed, with social-media threads asking why the brand chose an unknown face. But that바카라�s all grist to Trivago바카라�s mill. 바카라�It바카라�s great to see people discussing it,바카라� says Kumar. Certainly, he isn바카라�t complaining about the few additional services he바카라�s offered at Indian hotels on account of being the 바카라�Trivago guy바카라�.

From the barely smiling, mildly admonitory Lalitaji (white sari, big red bindi), asking you to buy Surf to the ever-effervescent Maha­shayji selling MDH spices, a nostalgic Indian heart beats to images of great advertising. 바카라�I still get introduced as the Onida model, even after 20 years of the campaign,바카라� says David Whitbread, the original bi-horned devil for television brand Onida. From 1985 to 1999, Whitbread바카라�s smoky devil act had a harmless pungency that kept the Indian audience hooked. Whitbread, now in his early 60s, is a freelance stylist and model choreographer based in Coonoor. While he was a model coordinator in Mumbai, art director Gopi Kukde approached him to play the iconic television devil. 바카라�I said no, and offered to find them a model. It took a couple of months for them to convince me. I just don바카라�t like being in front of the camera. Once shot, I was like which client will like this! It was all about the pretty boys and girls back then,바카라� the veteran stylist says. He was paid Rs 7,000바카라�a princely amount then. A month-and-a-half later, he found the monster glaring back from the last page of an English daily. 바카라�I thought no one would recognise me...I never told anyone. But the press found out. I would get asked for autographs, and get pointed at in restaurants. I didn바카라�t enjoy that bit as I am a shy person, but most of it was good fun,바카라� Whit­bread reminisces.

Characters like Whitbread바카라�s devil are once-in-a-generation phenomenon바카라�each one handing the audience a visual shorthand that defines an era, an addition to the pop-culture lexicon, the chosen few that stand the test of time. Debuting in 2006, the now-legendary Cadbury 5-Star chocolate twins, Ramesh and Suresh, continue to occupy screen space in India after having shot over 250 ads with agency Ogilvy and Mather. 바카라�I am into writing and direction. I just want to continue doing the 5-star ads and keep travelling the world,바카라� says Gagan Duggal, aka Suresh. Often mistaken for being twins, Duggal and sidekick Rana Pratap Sengar (aka Ramesh) have made great memories playing the goofy, stoned, forgetful mascots almost sleep-walking into hilarity. 바카라�While on our way to Romania to shoot one of the 5-Star ads, we had a layover in Doha. A guy at the airport asked us where we are headed and for what, and INS­tantly recognised us when we mentioned 5-Star. Then others and airport staff walked up to us for a photo and arranged a special jeep for us to take us to the aircraft,바카라� Duggal laughs. For Sengar, who was spotted in the 2016 Abhay Deol-Diana Penty starrer Happy Bhaag Jayegi, life changed once the campaign took off. After being rejected twice at the auditions, an indefatigable Sengar ret­urned a third time, clothed differently and pretending to be the brother of the twice rej­ected aspirant, until he finally made the cut. 바카라�I바카라�ve seen kids ask shopkeepers for the 바카라�Ramesh-Suresh wala chocolate바카라�. Can you bel­ieve that?바카라� Sengar says. The duo was offered the Hindi remake of Hollywood comedy Dumb and Dumber, which failed to take off.

Indeed, the success of an ad campaign is nearly impossible to predict. But for gen-Z, the ultimate test for anything 바카라�viral바카라� is its 바카라�meme-worthiness바카라�, or so believes Amol Parashar, aka 바카라�Kunal바카라� from the Wild Stone deodorant ads. 바카라�We no longer live in times when only the conventional filmy hero or heroine is needed to sell a product. The definition of 바카라�good-looking바카라� is also changing. If you바카라�re relatable, people are going to like you. People put Kunal in all kinds of memes바카라�from political memes to Avengers memes, that guy is everywhere!바카라� Parashar says. The IIT-Delhi alumnus has a successful web-series in his kitty as well. 바카라�The Viral Fever바카라�s Tripling released six months before the Wild Stone ad, in 2016. I think it kind of built up from there. It바카라�s definitely opened more avenues for me,바카라� the actor says.

While some like Rajesh Khera (who replaced Whitbread for Onida) ended up being typecast and not getting many other offers, as he seemed to 바카라�remind people of only the devil바카라�, the little boy from the 바카라�90s Dhara ad has gone on to act in several films and TV shows. 바카라�I have vague memories from that shoot which happened when I was four. I remember going to the sets very hungry after school. They offered me jalebi there and I loved jalebi. The reactions you see in it are natural,바카라� says Parzaan Dastur, who played the unforgettable 바카라�sardar kid바카라� in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). But his 바카라�jalebi boy바카라� act has struck the popular chord. 바카라�People still recognise me from that ad. They often are confused with the oil brand name, but that boy with a squeaky voice, saying 바카라�jalebi바카라�, has lasted,바카라� Dastur says.

As the world looks for its next viral face to squeeze every last meme out of, the mild, intoxicating whiff of nostalgia never stops clinging to the old ones. For all those characters drawn in indelible ink in our memories바카라�some vaguely remembered, some recalled with startling acuity, all of them sodden with the fading colour tone of old Doordarshan and smudgy news-stock바카라�are hooks that let us into another time, one that has gone forever. 바카라�The Zing Thing바카라� tastes so good in that foreign country.