Iconic Ads: Greenply – Janam Janam Ka Saati

In the 2000s, plywood was a boring low involvement category. It had become a commodity and most customers went by what their carpenter or store owner recommended. There were some brands too and there was some recall for them.

Enter Lintas for Greenply in a bid to differentiate both the brand and communication from the rest. Priti Nair was driving the creatives.

The team had worked on multiple ideas that had been rejected by the client. Priti decided to go back to the ideas and found that one creative could be presented again with some fine-tuning.

In the earlier script, the table was more a part of the furniture, and in the revised script, the table became the fulcrum. Rupesh Kashyap was the one who thought of a Tamil Sardar. Though filmmaker Prakash Varma initially wanted a Chinese boy to appeal to international audiences. An interplay of contrasting cultures of North and South adds to the humour.

What also worked for the commercial was the level of detail – Karaikudi, (where it was shot) the old house, old lady, the chair, painting, silhouettes, music etc.

Quoting Rupesh, “I had written two scripts and this was one of them which the client had liked in the first meeting itself. However, they went through the ‘More’ options until Priti Nair came into the picture”

He also recollects “Reincarnation was the idea that I had but I also wanted to bring something unique which also defines India. Hence, Sardar boy speaking in Tamil, something I was convinced and confident about. And my team supported for the same. It was Priti who played a true creative director role and revived its chances once again. I still have the treatment note, written by Prakash Verma, who wrote he had nothing much to add. Though he added the fall of Sardar’s mother and when she sees him remembering the name of his past love, looking at the table and the old lady finally identifies the Sardar boy as her late husband”.

Rupesh is thankful – “This is incredible, and I will always be grateful for those who contributed to an idea that was not only meant to entertain but also redefine the category”.

Nirtanga!