agencyfaqs! news bureau
Advertising

Catherine McQueen comes home to Siyaram

Siyaram signs up Bond girl Catherine McQueen, Rashmi Nigam and Siddhartha Shukla for its forthcoming ad film, budgeted at Rs 2 crore

Catherine McQueen, who starred as a Russian model in the Ice Palace sequence in the James Bond movie, ‘Die Another Day’, is all set to make an India debut by featuring in an ad film for popular clothing brand Siyaram.

The television commercial produced by Percept Picture Company (PPC) will also feature Rashmi Nigam and Siddhartha Shukla. The budget for the commercial is Rs 2 crore.

Says Preet Bedi, CEO, PPC, “Indian audiences have literally grown up with the ‘Coming home to Siyaram’ campaign. It has always been a cult advertisement and a very prestigious account for us. Keeping in sync with the previous campaign values, our endeavour will be to further strengthen the brand with our very contemporary, yet futuristic ad film.”

Catherine McQueen comes home to Siyaram
Catherine McQueen
The film will be directed by Raj Kaushal and will be extensively shot in ‘Sun City’, Jodhpur, in mid-September 2007. The campaign is scheduled for a national release on all leading television channels by October 2007.

PPC had featured Boris Becker in its earlier Siyaram campaign along with Dia Mirza. Personalities such as Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Deepti Bhatnagar, Anupama Verma, Apurva Agnihotri, Dino Morea and Bikram Saluja have all been part of PPC’s Siyaram campaigns in the past.

N Gangadhar, vice-president, marketing, Siyaram, says, “Our advertisements have always portrayed the strong values and culture of India, portrayed the trust and quality that the brand stands for. This advertisement will stir aspirational values and bring to the fore the strong emotional connect of being an Indian who has arrived in life. The film showcases the Siyaram man as an achiever who is deeply rooted in Indian values and culture and is proud of his lineage – proud to be an Indian.”

The film begins with the strong emotions of an Indian girl towards her fiancé. The ad shows his “homecoming” in a different connotation.

Director Raj Kaushal says, “It’s all about coming back to one’s lineage, and what better locale than Rajasthan to showcase the ‘Coming home to Siyaram’ campaign? It will be a fabulous setting and our script and star cast for the film holds a lot of promise.”

McQueen, a model for more than 10 years, has also been a TV presenter. In the past, she has endorsed brands such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Shiseido, Ultimo Wonder Bra and Playtex, ‘Vogue’, ‘Elle’, ‘Tatler’, ‘Marie Claire’, ‘Maxim’, FHM and Loaded.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com