Inzamam, Sourav don battle gear for LG's cause

Seen those newspaper pictures of the chain-mail armoured and bat-wielding cricketer-turned-warrior Inzamam-ul-Haq? Yes, the ones where the Pakistani cricket team captain furiously charges at the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly.

Last Sunday, newspaper readers across India were informed that the photos were from an ad-film shoot at Kolkata. The caption, however, was conspicuously silent about the purpose of making the film.

After a fair amount of probing, agencyfaqs! has discovered that the photos were from a hush-hush promotional film for LG Electronics. The film is currently being shot in Kolkota.

This project, apparently a top secret affair, is being executed on a large scale and sources say that LG is spending a substantial sum on the project. Lowe is the agency which is making the film.

When LG officials were asked to throw some light on the promo-campaign, they kept mum. The ad, which is still under production, will be released around the time when India takes on Pakistan for three Tests and five One-day Internationals.

Call it sheer luck or the power of Internet, when agencyfaqs! surfed the Net to ascertain whether the two captains were after all being filmed for the LG ad, the Internet edition of Pakistan-based Jang Group of Newspapers threw up an informative story link.

According to the news piece, LG was supposed to sign up Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is in much demand by Indian and multinational companies to endorse their products. Instead, the Chaebol picked up Inzamam to star in the commercial with Ganguly. Inzamam, according to the news report, had taken clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to fly to India and take part in the shoot. The decision to drop Akhtar was ostensibly because of the uncertainty about his touring India.

On the first day of the shoot, Inzamam and Ganguly had spent spent six hours on the sets at the Jadavpur Stadium in Kolkata.

But here's the twist in the tale. The Pakistan Cricket Board is yet to announce the cricket team for the India tour. The announcement is likely to happen only on February 18. Now this is the tricky part. What if Inzamam is not named the captain for this particular series? Now, if that happens, will it lead to the promo campaign being shelved? Answers to these questions would be clearer after a couple of days. Good luck, LG!

© 2005 agencyfaqs!