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The deal: Leo Burnett wanted to make Furones' visit to India a
memorable one! Well, no harm done as long as Furones took the 'bakra'
in good spirit (which he did and thankfully so for the people at
Leo Burnett!!).
"We wanted to do something special for him to remember us
and his visit to India. At first all cliched things came to our
mind, like to put up a show of a kalaripayattu (martial arts of
South India) or take him to watch an old Amitabh Bachchan movie
or take him to an Indian wedding. But nothing that we thought of
seemed to be exciting enough," said Leo Burnett national creative
director K V Sridhar (fondly known as "papa").
"MTV and their pranks came to our mind and we decided to give
a go at it," he added.
So what did they do? The Leo Burnett team was at a workshop conducted
by Furones at a hotel in Mumbai. After the workshop got over, MTV
arranged for an elephant that was kept at the gate of the hotel.
There were a dozen women in saris waiting to welcome Furones. They
asked him to break the auspicious coconut before he took a ride
on the elephant. After cracking the coconut, the clueless Furones
went on his joy ride with a few Leo Burnett team members trailing
him.
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| The
'female' elephant, Miguel Angel Furones, Cyrus Broacha and Firoz
from Leo Burnett at the crime spot! |
The stage was set for the grand entry of the ever-so-strict Inspector
Broacha!! Broacha enters the scene and calls a stop to the royal
safari. Broacha to Furones: "Do you know that you need a license
to ride a elephant in India. Do you have a license?" And what's
more... Broacha also tells Furones that it was a crime to ride a
female elephant in India! A bit preposterous but hilarious nonetheless.
While Furones doesn't have a clue of what to do next, the juniors
(a part of the ploy) who were a following him tried to bribe Broacha.
Needless to mention Broacha is furious with the suggestion. Meanwhile
Furones is asked to get down from the poor female elephant (Ha!
Ha!) and is asked to do 10 push ups. Pulling it too far?? But guess
what... he obliged. Broacha then takes him in a police car some
distance and then leaves him to take an autorikshaw back to the
hotel where he was honorably bestowed with the 'Bakra' cap.
"I think Miguel was scared for the first five minutes or so,
but then maybe he had an inkling that we were up to something. Although
he did not show it," said Sridhar.
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| All
in good spirits! - Miguel Angel Furones with Leo Burnett India
head Arvind Sharma and Cyrus Broacha |
"He was very sporting about the whole thing and he is a very
fun loving guy. Being a creative person, we expected him to take
this in good spirit. To be on the safer side, we played this prank
on him on the last day of his visit," chuckles Sridhar. "I
would have lost my job if he had got furious with the whole thing,"
Sridhar does not forget to add.
The 'Leo Burnett Bakra' episode aired today on MTV and will have
a repeat episode on Sunday 29 February at 8:00 pm.
While Furones may have taken the 'Bakra' episode sportingly, not
so the legal fraternity, who are furious with MTV for different
reasons all together.
The Rajasthan High Court ordered legal proceedings against MTV
yesterday for telecasting a song that portrays the court of
law in a "defamatory way". The public interest litigation
(PIL) was moved by a Dinesh Yadav after MTV telecast a song, Jo
sharab na piye usey saza dee jaye (Those who do not drink liquor
should be punished) which projected the court of law in an "indecent,
ridiculous and defamatory way," the United News of India has
reported.
The song showed two advocates along with the judge consuming alcohol
and a woman cop dancing inside the court. The bench found the court's
picturisation highly improper and objectionable and hence issued
directives against the music channel.
When contacted, an MTV spokesperson said the video was made by
T-Series Super Cassettes Ltd and was on air on many other channels
as well. Although MTV has not received any legal notice so far,
the video in question has been pulled off air, he clarified.
Even as a lot of liberties are being taken nowadays by the makers
of music video remixes, it seems rather out of place to sue MTV
for airing the video. Shouldn't the axe have actually fallen on
those responsible for making the video in the first place?
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