Moment of truth

ADVERTISING: Proposition: if Munnabhai has captivated hearts, he could help capture wallets too.

"Bhai, apunko yeyhich handset mangta, maloom?" "Kya re, Circuit... khaali peeli kaiko bheje ki watt laga raha hai."

Expect this kind of lingo to become advertising staple. Cine-gangster Munnabhai and his sidekick Circuit have electrified the box office in India (don't ask the wattage, it's inadvisable once inmates take over the asylum), and it's axiomatic that whatever charges the box office also charges advertising.

Welcome to the dynamics of the mass market as it turns even more mass. At 8 per cent growth, that's the deal. Not since the days of Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh has any cinema character besotted the ad world so.

While Sholay has been used to sell everything from tea to toothbrushes, the film's pivotal point (the solemn moment of truth at the village's decision to resist tyranny) never quite gripped the audience as strongly as Gabbar Singh's villainous moment of truth (the scene of revolver roullete suspense).

With Lage Raho Munnabhai, however, the adoption of active Gandhigiri (as opposed to inert statue commemoration), rolls enough laughs and logic together to forge the crowd appeal so critical to advertising.

An advantage is that the characters have been established by the previous film, Munnabhai MBBS, and so recognition is high. Indeed, there were dozens of ads using the theme in 2004.

According to Jayshree Sunder, executive vice-president, Leo Burnett, the original film's influence on advertising will help the sequel as well. "Marketers know that the first-part ads were liked by people a lot," she says, "so they are repeating the trick this time as well."

Er, repeating? Not exactly. The amazement now is that the same goons have turned into peace revolutionaries without any loss of characterisation. If anything, they are even more endearing. For advertising, it seems too good to be true.

"The story of the movie is actually about a man on the streets, and happenings in his day-to-day life," says Pratap Suthan, national creative director, Grey, "and advertisers always look forward to things which people can relate to."

It is not a uniquely Indian advertising phenomenon either. Remember the Hollywood film Independence Day? It was followed by spaceship shadows in ad after ad. Or Jurassic Park, which populated American ads with dinosaurs.

But will Munnabhai ever eclipse the stamp of Sholay on Indian advertising? "No," says Suthan, categorically, "Sholay is like The Godfather "" it is legendary, and Munnabhai can't be bracketed in the same league as of now. Popular, yes, but legendary, no."

Well, well. As Munnabhai himself might have said, "Bole toh, sahi hai Baap."