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The Times of India - Times Spark: A Salaam To Kalam
22/08/2018
Advertising Agency
Mumbai, India
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Credits
Agency / Creative
Production
Music / Sound

Inspire and Ignite the reading habit :

A short film on the reading habit of a newspaper boy who became the President of India. A musical narrative that delivered a dream of flying a fighter plane, to inspire a billion. A true story told through a timeline of Times Of India newspapers from 1941 to 2017, building emotional milestones from newspaper headlines into the lyrics and integrating the brand into the narrative through seamless storytelling.

The musical narrative in the ancient Indian form of storytelling through song is set to an emotional rythm. A historic form that is used in street theatre to move audiences to tears and inspire them to action. A powerful form of inspiration to ignite the newspaper reading habit among digital natives. 


The film is shot in custom made anamorphic lenses for wide screen cinema to create an authentic historical timeline from the year 1941 to 2017 with newspapers as the medium of transition. Since we wanted every scene to have an authentic feel, we shot in the original locations where Kalam spent his childhood, delivered newspapers as a newspaper boy, the high school where Kalam was reading the news of Independent India, the Dehradun Flying School where Kalam failed the pilot test, the Indian Space Research Organisation and others to recreate the timeline of his life. It was challenging to maintain a consistent look across different locations and ensure that all of them ring true but we achieved a distinct look with the visuals and the period narrative form transported the audience deep into the historical musical.