Indian advertising film maker breaks new ground in fight against Covid-19

BY THE HAMMER

World renowned and multiple-award winning advertising film director Prasoon Pandey has scored another hit. It started when he roped in Bollywood icon Shri Amitabh Bachchan, who gathered many famous film stars together for a Covid-19 awareness campaign titled “We Are One”, supported by Kalyan Jewellers and Sony Pictures Networks India.

Prasoon has won scores of awards at Cannes, Clios, AdFest, New York Festivals, Indian Advertising Shows, and The Gunn Report ranks him among the top 25 advertising directors in the world.

Led by Bachchan, the film features celebrities of different age groups and regions in the Indian film fraternity.

Conceptualised and virtually directed by Prasoon Pandey, Founder & Director of Corcoise Films, the film was shot at homes of various celebrities by their families and drives the message that staying safe at home and maintaining social distancing can be productive.

The families of these celebrities were also actively involved in shooting the film on their phones. Prasoon shared the script and screenplay with all the actors which was executed by the cast. The short film was shot in old-fashioned black and white format to match the colour tones of interiors across multiple homes.

This initiative has pledged supporting 100,000 daily wage earners who are the most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. Out of theseKalyan Jewellers is taking responsibility for 50,000 workers.

T S Kalyanaraman, Chairman of Kalyan Jewellers reportedly said, “The concept of the film is exceptional and it is great to watch how these respective actors came together and used light-hearted humuor to convey a very serious message around covid-19. We congratulate all the actors on their contribution and the telecast of this short film.”

Prasoon’s elder brother Piyush Pandey is a legendary advertising figure and is currently Ogilvy’s Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman of India Ogilvy. Their sister Ila Arun is a celebrated Rajasthani folk singer, actress, TV personality and has appeared in many prominent Bollywood movies.

Brothers Piyush and Prasoon Pandey were both honoured with the Lion of St. Mark award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which is the ultimate global hallmark of creativity in the advertising industry.