Deadlines foster brilliance

What I've liked

OK, so I wasn't as lucky as I was a couple of weeks ago, when I had come across a string of some really good work.

This time round I had to click through pages and pages of not so spectacular work -- not objectionable but all of it bordering on that pleasant median between average and good. The thinking across all categories seems to be -- it's better to be safe than sorry.

So, there I was drifting along in this vast sea of sameness when suddenly out of the blue, another of those bright and happy Aamir Khan-Coke commercials burst in on the scene.

I wouldn't say it is a spectacular story, but yes, Khan more than makes up for this by keeping his audience engrossed and thrilled with his exemplary performance.

Do I like this commercial because it's the best of a mediocre lot, or, would it shine this brightly even amid other similarly crafted brilliance? My bet is that it would. It is an interesting articulation of the Coke line, "It's the real thing".

With a series of extremely simple examples (like when you try and explain complex concepts to child-like minds), the brand takes you through a little trip on how to distinguish between what is real and what is not.

If it were not for Khan and his inimitable flair, the entire exercise would have come through as patronising. But it doesn't. And that is the beauty of a well-produced piece of work.

When the casting, the script, the acting all come together in harmony to minimise each other's weaknesses and enhance each others' strengths. And that is what I see in the latest offering from the Coke-Aamir Khan productions -- may we see more of them in the future!

What I've learned

Urgency is the mother of brilliance.
I have always been accused of not giving my creative team enough time. Clearly they feel that given adequate time they would have come up with better work. Maybe. Or maybe not.

I say this because what I have observed over time is that when faced with an impending deadline or a dire need to produce, every single one of my colleagues and I, have produced our best work ever, till that point in time. Two stories will illustrate this.

You all must be familiar with the Viv Richards/Only Vimal commercial. Even after all these years it still wins hands down in most top-of-mind recall tests.

This precious piece in Mudra's portfolio of "great work" was shot in four hours flat. All it took was one phone call from Shantanu Sheorey for storyline approval and four hours later history was made.

Admittedly it was a wild chance that we took, remember, nobody used cricketers as endorsers in those days. But all of us involved were equally possessed by the burn to produce good work as quickly as possible.

I have learnt that the urgency to deliver, clears the mind of unnecessary doubts, fears, insecurity etc which cloud the normal thinking process when faced with the pressure to perform.

Your mind becomes sharp and alert and you keep pulling tricks out, like a magician from a thinking hat!

In the early days of Vimal, we used to keep hosting elaborate high-tech (at least for those days) fashion shows all across the country. We were headed to Kolkata for one such show. We were of course, equipped with best of men and machines.

But fate got the better of us and during a stop over, most of the luggage (read lighting and A/V equipment) went straight ahead to Guwahati with a musical troupe which was also travelling with us!

So there we were, a fashion show on our hands and with no equipment to host it. And that's when we were exposed to the brilliance of Tapas Sen (Satyajit Ray's lighting specialist who was also the specialist for all Vimal shows).

With just a handful of branches, leaves and some really mindblowing lighting effects, he pulled off the entire show with the most amazing shadow and light play I've ever seen.

I'm pretty sure that were he not pushed to the edge in this manner we would have automatically resorted to machines.

But I am glad I was there to see how brilliantly a creative mind, when pushed to perform does so, in the most difficult of circumstances.