Deepashree Banerjee
Advertising

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

The copy of Star Sports' latest spot under the #CricketKaCrown umbrella draws on an old India-Pak jeer slinging match about 'baaps' and 'betas'.

'Crown Cricket ka madamji hum lejayenge...'

If you haven’t heard this catchy jingle as yet, sample the hilarious ads below. That’s the catchphrase of Star Sports‘ advertising campaign for the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The latest spot in the series comes just days ahead of the big match between India and Pakistan, which, for fans of the game, is a very big event.

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

As per reports, the the 40-second TVC garnered over 1.7 million YouTube views in just a day post its release on 9 June

The match will be telecast on Star Sports on Sunday (June 16), which also happens to be International Father’s Day, lending additional meaning to the whole 'baap' mud-slinging, something the fifth and latest spot in the series quite clearly draws on.

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

ICC #CWC19: Cricket Ka Crown Hum Le Jayenge!

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

ICC #CWC19: India v Australia

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

ICC #CWC19: England v South Africa

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

ICC #CWC19: MS Dhoni takes Vicky to task!

The 'baap baap hota hai' jeering between Indian and Pakistani cricket fans was last observed in all its glory during the 2017 Champions Trophy; it even became a hashtag on Twitter, #Baapbaaphotahai. The origin of the phrase goes further back; in cricketing folklore, those are words India's Virender Sehwag is rumoured to have said to heckle Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar during a 2003 World Cup match between the two teams.

The campaign has been created by Ogilvy. In a press release, Sukesh Nayak, CCO, Ogilvy, says, "Our big idea came from the thought of coming to England to get the crown. We took a fan perspective to this entire thing...”

The campaign comprises TV, radio, activation, and digital ads.

And yes, the gent in the Pakistan jersey in the films is Vishal Malhotra, the 'Mauka Mauka guy' from Star’s 2015 World Cup campaign.

The new 40-seconder almost seems like a sequel to the previous 'Patake kab phodenge' campaign from 2015 which featured a fuddled Pakistani fan who, since 1992 (up to 2011), didn't get the opportunity to light his victory firecrackers as Pakistan was constantly losing to India.

The recent TVC seems to feature the Pakistani fan's grown-up son (played by Vishal Malhotra of Mauka Mauka fame) who is wished by a Bangladeshi fan for the upcoming Indo-Pak game. As the Pakistani fan refers to his "father's" words of how one must keep trying and should never give up, the Indian fan pops up with his quintessential one-liner - 'maine aisa kab kaha' (when did I ever say that). This suggests that India is the Pakistani fan's indisputable 'baap'.

Meanwhile, we spotted a sizeable chunk of angered netizens who, guns blazing, took to the web stating that the ad is supposedly riding on a jingoistic sentiment and inflaming the political tension prevailing in both the states.

We leave it to the experts to decode the effort.

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

Aalap Desai

Ahead of India-Pak game, Star Sports puns on 'baap baap hota hai' jibe in ad

Ram Subramanian

In India, with lots of cricket, comes lots of excitement. According to Aalap Desai, ECD, Dentsu Webchutney, the best way to express this as something that a consumer can take away from the commercial, is through a catchphrase. And, that is bang-on in the series of ads.

"People will probably carry 'Le jaaenge' into the stadiums when the matches are going on. The gang of boys fighting together to decide a winner is a fun way to express the friendly rivalry of the game. The 'baap' pun in the India-Pakistan film is a typical example of conversations such groups have. It's well placed. The overall execution leaves me with a feeling to want-to-watch more of them," he shares.

Ram Subramanian, founder, Handloom Picture Company, feels that the mix of a flavourful jingle and over-the-top characters works in this case as the whole idea was to create something light.

He finds the Twitter fights quite baseless and adds that viewers should just be sporting enough to have a good laugh over it and move on.

Vishal Malhotra, the Delhi-based model who played the part of a Pakistani fan in Star's 2015 Mauka Mauka campaign, turned into a national sensation overnight. However, Subramanian's not sure if the model in this recent campaign will make it big or not. "It depends on what the advertisers do with him post this campaign. Or what he will do post this campaign," he states.

"There will never be too many shortcomings when you are advertising for the cricket world cup. Anything that is not a boring channel promo will work. If it has a catchy jingle, decent production value, some humour... that's a win," Subramanian opines.

Agency credits:

Creative Agency: Ogilvy

Production House: Chrome Pictures

Director: Hemant Bhandari

Music composer: Sidhant Mago and Mayank Mehra (Mikelal)

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