Dhara ad: When Parzaan Dastur’s love for jalebis transformed the fortunes of Dhara

A young boy, around five years old, has dejection written all over his face as he trudges to the railway station carrying a small bag. While waiting for the train that would carry him into the world outside his home, the would-be runaway spots a familiar face, who informs him that piping hot jalebis have been made at home. His expressions change into delight and the next moment one can see him relishing them at his place.

The commercial, which featured jalebis being prepared in Dhara cooking oil, ran for five years, beginning from 1996.

Conceptualisation of the commercial

The Dhara brand of cooking oils came into being at a time that such oils were under price control by the government. This resulted in the boom of the black market where the maximum retail price was something to be scoffed at. So when the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which among other things owns the Amul range of dairy products, introduced its Dhara range of cooking oils that had a set price, sales took off as it stood out as the cheapest oil of the time. In fact, Jagdish Acharya, who was the project head then at Mudra Communications---In 2011, the agency got acquired by the Omnicom group, was rebranded as DDB Mudra Group, and got merged with DDB Worldwide---the agency that handled the account, recalled that people would hold a dharna or protest in front of the office if for some reason the oil was unavailable in the market.

When the government deregulated pricing and made it an open market, it gave a subsidy on Dhara oil. After some time, the subsidy was withdrawn, and the higher prices translated into plummeting sales. The brand went into damage control with a series of brand building activities and campaigns, of which the ‘jalebi ad’ proved a crowd favourite.

There had been a perception settling in people’s minds that Dhara oil was a “ration product” or one that is sold at prices fixed by the government via public distribution system. So the brief given to Mudra Communications was to erase the public memory that Dhara oil was a price-controlled product. It should sell at competitive prices and the scale of its sale must be stepped up.

Acharya said, “So our main thing was that we need to make the brand so emotionally heavy that people look at it with a completely different view where people just fall in love with the brand and forget about the price.”

Hence, the team, which also included Kamlesh Pandey, a creative consultant on a freelance basis, tapped the insight that food worked as a basic emotion or a major motivational factor that could set the mood right.

Two ads were conceptualised and released in 1996. The first film revolved around a teenaged girl wanting to go on a trip with her friends. Here, she is waiting to seek permission from her father and sees him come home in a huff from the office.

Her mother provides her assurance and asks her to seek permission post dinner. After dinner, the father goes on to add his camera too for her to take along on her trip. Before the release of the jalebi commercial, this ad went on to run for a couple of weeks.

Commercial in the making

When it came to the jalebi commercial, the idea was to use a child. Hence, the child actor of Hindi film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Parzaan Dastur was roped in.

But Dastur was not the initial choice of the production house White Light Moving Pictures. On the day of the shoot, the health of the child actor it had chosen was ill and Namita Ghose, one of the filmmakers (the other one being Subir Chatterjee) of the commercial, roped Dastur in. What worked in their favour was that Dastur loved jalebis.

In the commercial, there is a scene between the child and Ramu kaka, the family cook. At least 40 takes had to be taken to get his expressions right. But in the case of Dastur, he gave the same expressions every single time.

The ad was released on Doordarshan, and on private channels like Zee and Sony. Following the release of the commercial, Dastur went on to be known as ‘Jalebi boy’. The jalebi commercial also overshadowed the first film featuring the girl, and it was discontinued.

Acharya recalled that the commercial was written keeping the snack kachori in mind and shared an interesting anecdote. Acharya, outlined the film’s storyline to his mother, who was visiting. She remarked that children are fond of sweets and not fried items. Hence the change from kachoris to jalebis.

The rest is history.

Under the scanner: Caught the eye of ASCI

A few who watched the commercial raised serious doubts and expressed concerns which led them to the doors of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). The point raised by them was that it was ‘misleading’ which would result in children running away from their homes.

Mudra Communications wrote to ASCI explaining their stance about the commercial, and the non-regulatory body gave the go-ahead to run the commercial without the requirement of any changes.

But how far can luck favour you? A few days after this incident, a seven- or eight-year-old boy from NDDB ran away to Anand station. The boy, who was later rescued from Jalgaon station, was an avid viewer of the jalebi commercial. The employees of NDDB approached Verghese Kurien and complained about the bad impression the commercial was casting upon children. But Kurien stood to his ground, and the ad graced the television screens for the next five years beginning from 1996.

Factors for the commercial’s success

Pandey recalled that one of the toughest acts to pull was to get Dastur into his skin and act. However, he added that Dastur did a great job in terms of performance and they accomplished what they wanted.

He added that this ad was created keeping women in mind. This is because Dhara was used in the kitchen basically. The audience were women and for them the emotion of the boy and the shared emotion between the woman and the boy worked like magic.

A good idea always survives regardless of whether you use a famous person or not. A good idea survives time and this commercial has survived time, concluded Pandey.