Times of India ‘A Day in the Life of Chennai’ advert

Agency: Good Morning Films

Client: The Times of India

This advertisement won the historic first Cannes Golden Lion for a film from India. It was produced by Good Morning Films.

It involved working with a truly international team comprised of Bengalis, Punjabis, Parsis, Malayalees, Hyderabadis, English, Germans and Tamilians in the city.

They all helped to the production give fresh insight into the city of Chennai that resulted in an advert that was dynamic enough to win the Cannes Golden Lions award that it deserved.

Jason West (of ‘Rock On’ fame) was entrusted with shooting the Times Of India film and the music was produced by Vijay Anthony, sung by the renowned female folk singer Chinnaponnu.

The location used was Kasimedu - Chennais Dharavi, Dongri and Kamatipura all rolled into one. Surprisingly this underbelly of Chennai proved to be not only the most exciting but also the most cooperative and accommodating for the shoot.

The cutouts from the ad ranged from 12 to 50 feet! With the monstrous size of 50 feet also came the nightmarish logistics that were minor issues compared to the fact that all cut outs (except those of the ruling party) were banned from being put up in the city of Chennai!

Some swift maneuvering  was called for in some cases, we had to just had to sneak in, get our shots and get out without disrupting normal activity and attract unwanted attention!

The official permission letter for shooting on the various public locations across Chennai reached us only on Day Two of the shoot and that too with allotted time slots which were the complete opposite of what was requested in the shooting plan submitted to the cops!

Brilliant manouvering by the production team and some kamikaze shooting techniques adapted by director Bob and DOP Jason resulted in some of the memorable shots and moments of the film.