How this simple story of Ogilvy’s new advertisement melted my heart and left me misty eyed

Ghar ka khana, ghar ka khana hota hai (Home cooked food is home cooked food after all)! A scroll down my Facebook news feed one day caught my attention on a post that said, Ogilvy & Mather's new advertisement is bit long but you wouldn't regret watching it. The brand is Fortune Oil, this time.

I love advertisements. Totally. So, out of curiosity about the interesting story line and love for advertisements, I watched the 4 minutes 38 seconds ad. It has a Grandma visiting his grandson in a hospital who is not allowed to have any food that is cooked outside. Daadiji takes effort to walk up to her grandson everyday with the help of a walking stick, asking the attending nurse to let her feed him the home cooked daal (lentils). Priya, the nurse refuses her every time Daadiji requests her to feed only do chammach daal (two spoonfuls of daal) because it is not bahar ka khana (outside food) but cooked at home. Daadiji keeps insisting in various ways, either by saying that her grandson used to drink bowls of daal after he used to come back from his evening games, playfully saying I love you to Priya so that she melts but her efforts continue to go in vain. Priya does not comply and keeps rejecting until one day, she finds herself eating Daadi's cooked food on the occasion of her grandson's birthday. The next day, when Daadi comes with the same tiffin box containing daal, Priya is seen greeting the old lady with warmth, leaving her surprised. Daadi, on seeing Priya about to feed her grandson the same hospital cooked daal, makes another attempt to request her to feed him the two spoonful of daal. Her voice sounding choked now. Priya initially hesitates but goes ahead to close the door and asks Daadi to feed that ghar ka bana daal that her grandson has been longing to have. Daadi is overjoyed on hearing the same and wastes no time in quickly opening the tiffin box and feeds her son the home cooked daal. He also reaches out with shaking hands and drinks straight from the box after the two spoons are fed. The film ends showing Fortune Oil's new brand statement, ghar ka khana, ghar ka khana hota hai.

In the words of Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia, "I believe it is one of the finest pieces of work that I have written. It has to be a very brave client with a very big heart to make a commercial of this kind. I salute the entire marketing team at Fortune for making this happen. I am also hugely grateful to Vivek Kakkad and my own partner Sukesh Nayak, for bringing this story alive. Enjoy, and have some home cooked food!"

Yes, my eyes were moist when the film ended. My voice choked for a few seconds. My heart was filled with the warmth and love that all of us long for from our loved ones, especially when it comes to home cooked food. Daadi's adamant nature of convincing Priya to let her feed her grandson showed how important are these relations in your life. No matter how much you try, the love that you get from your parents and grandparents is irreplaceable. In my case, I still regard my grandmas’ cooked food the best in the world, and claim that not even my mom can beat them. Their food had more love and warmth and they can soothe your depressed and anxious heart and mind in seconds.

O&M’s advertisements always have a charm in them and they are pleasant to watch always. Their storylines, concepts and visualization with the perfect actors make it appear magical on screen. This particular one will always stay amongst the top few advertisements that I like and will enjoy for a long time.

Credits:

Brand: Fortune Edible Oil & foods

Client: Adani Wilmar

Chief Operative Officer: Angshu Maik

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather India

Chairman: Piyush Pandey

Group Creative Director: Sukesh Nayak

Vice President: Saji Mathews

Production House: Curious Films

Director (film): Vivek Kakkad

Producer: Shahzad Bhagwagar

You can watch the advertisement here.

Content Source: Campaign India