IPL 5: As exhilarating as a roller coaster ride?

Is anyone looking forward to IPL 5 ‒ or am I the only one madly excited about it? So fascinated am I that I chose to do my MSc Economics dissertation on IPL. Yes, yes, yes, I’ve sold my soul to the devil ‘cos there can’t be any other explanation. Anyways… As terrific as the Katy Perrycoup has been, what really wowed me was the ace carnival-themed TVC for it. Come hither, if you haven’t caught the brilliance yet 🙂

The wide-eyed school boys

Gestated by the ever creative minds at Ogilvy (my fave ad agency, no doubt!), the 60-second film pitches IPL as this “huge, spectacular, entertaining, thrilling, noisy, bright and colourful” affair. The TVC starts with a couple of school boys intrigued by the sounds coming from the other side of a heavily-postered wall. They take a peep through a key hole and make out that a fun fair is going on. Right then a guy dressed as the host of event points to a loose board on the wall for them to sneak in. Once inside, with the track Eena Meena Deeka playing along, the boys get sucked right into the delights.

IPL-themed funfair

Incidentally, the rides and games happen to be named after the pet moves of IPL 5’s big name cricketers! Struck by the joviality, one of the boys gestures to the host in a manner of asking “whaaat exactly IS this?”, to which he emphatically states, “Yeh IPL hai, boss!”

The set

Although a tad Alice in Wonderland-esque I suppose the idea was still very novel, but it was the picturisation of this idea, a joint effort between Bang Bang Films and B-Reel Films, that actually impressed me. Such top-notch sets and VFX, so much details… You could tell it was a labour of love all along 🙂

What do you reckon? Agree with me?