Lights, make up, action!

The advertising industry has some unlikely designs on the world of cinema.

Get this: Piyush Pandey and R Balakrishnan are making movies "" together. Sounds like someone's wise "unlikely juxtaposition" idea for some new goofy advertisement or the other? It is not.

To the uninitiated, Pandey is the national creative director of O&M; Balakrishnan (better known as Balki) is national creative director of Lowe. And the prospect of the two together, even in the happiest of circumstances, would best be spelt B-R-A-W-L to many in the ad industry.

But guess what: Balki is considering Pandey for a lead role in his planned debut film, Chini Kum "" which is to star Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu.

If all goes well, Pandey could well be playing Tabu's father in this love story between the characters played by Bachchan and Tabu. Bachchan's mother will be played by the 94-year-old Zora Sehgal.

Pandey, on his part, confirms the development. "At present," he affirms, "Balki and I are discussing my role in the film and I might be playing Tabu's father. If it works out, it will be good fun."

The rest of the industry would, needless to say, be keeping a close ear out for what is happening on the sets of the film. Shooting of Chini Kum begins in April 2006, as per schedule.

This will be for the first time in Indian cinema, and advertising history, that a national creative director will play a lead character in a film made by an arch rival. And if all goes well on the sets, perhaps the fierce disagreements over how advertising creativity is to be judged could be over.