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Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao show Valentine’s Day, like Netflix, is for all
Gupta, young at heart, wants to celebrate the day of romance. Rao, like many men, has become lazy. Can Netflix solve this conundrum?
They say you must keep dating even after you’re married because it keeps the spark alive. Forget this cardinal rule and you upset your partner, cupid, and might rue your laziness forever.
Take the couple in Netflix India’s Valentine’s Day ad. Portrayed by actors Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao, she wants to celebrate the day of love while he, like many men, appears bored and moans of body pains characteristic of a septuagenarian.
The two discuss how love’s expression has changed over the years with Rao preferring the “kissing of flowers” which sounds incredulous to Gupta and to us the viewers. Wait before you pass judgement. Turns out, the guy who wanted to eat dal chawal on Valentine’s Day played us. He had planned a romantic picnic in the park for Gupta.
And what do you do in such a cosy setting? Either indulge in some sweet talk or like Gupta prefers, watch an action flick a la Sooryavanshi on Netflix.
The video streamer doesn’t make a beep or tudum until the end of the nearly two-and-a-half minute ad. Its only part in this ad is to tell us its library of content has something for everyone, a message it has tried to shower on us for the past few months through quirky ads.
Netflix India, in a surprising move last year, announced the shelving of its price packs; a move to counter the effects of similar moves from rivals Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video. Its move to celebrate its diverse content library is another move to win India's streaming war.
Netflix, last month, announced its Q4 results of 2021 where it revealed it had added 8.30 million paid subscribers missing its estimates of 8.50 million.