Iconic Ads: Fevicol – Unda & Carpenters

This was Prasoon Pandey’s first commercial for Fevicol and the first famous one too. While being briefed for this film, he was shown advertisements for paints and the painter was wearing dungarees looked more like a model or even a husband or house owner.

Prasoon wanted to maintain authenticity. And so went back to the Pidilite and told them that painters in real life don’t look like this and would cast people who looked like carpenters. Pidilite agreed.

The original idea had a farmer making an omelette. When he hit the egg, it did not break. Instead, it flew out of the window. The farmer ran out to collect the egg and then realized that the hen had been eating grains from a Fevicol plastic container.

Prasoon was not convinced as it sounded very western and so Indianised to carpenters.
The main carpenter was Sitaram – a supplier of junior artists who had worked with Prasoon in some Kodak commercials. Prasoon had seen him brief another artist on how to act, and he was impressed with him. He acted very well in their TVC and ever since he has been cast in many Fevicol commercials.

The other carpenters were actual carpenters who worked in the set. They had been prepped before by asking them not to wash their shirts and get the same the next day for the shoot.

Most carpenters like to listen to music while working and so there is a radio playing. The RJ mentions some names which are coincidentally a mix of various names from the industry like Kailash Surendranath and Prahlad Kakkar whose names were mixed to Prahlad Surendranth and Kailash Kakkar. Also, featured were Sumantro Ghosal, Ram Madhvani etc.

The underlying theme was the quest for authenticity and realism, which reflects the superior quality of the TVC. The non-urban customer could connect with the advertising as it was simple, easy to comprehend, quirky and humorous.