‘When a person doesn’t have colours in his life, he puts them in his clothing’. (Jab insaan ki zindagi mein rang nahin hotey, toh wo unhe apne kapdo mein daal deta hai). Said Govinda offering an insight into his core audience during his best days in Bollywood. That’s why brand Govinda’s ‘trademark look’ was (to...

‘Then it is better to have two housewives in the team instead of two planners’ – I said half-jokingly to two of my favorite junior planners. The point I was making was – listen to the consumer, but don’t take everything you hear at face value. Insights are about interpreting what has been said in...

Achcha nahi bana kya? a question I often faced from mom, a phenomenal cook, while eating. My response, a distracted ‘nahi theek hai sab’ while busy with whatever I was reading while eating. She would stand around, watch me eat before getting busy again. In early 2000, we shared a study we had done on #homemaking with...

When the hero serenades the heroine, a lot of it is about her physical beauty. There are references to various body parts, often using metaphors. Eyes as deep as a lake, face as beautiful as the moon, hair as black and bewitching as a naagin… However, when the heroine sings about the hero, there is...

While the Bollywood dominance of Khans is well known, the younger generation may not know – Bollywood was dominated by Muslim heroines too! The ‘Mother India’ Nargis, the ‘perfect beauty’ Madhubala, the innocent Mumtaz or the glam queen Zeenat Amaan…the list goes on and on. A few years ago, working on a project, we realized...

There are many reasons why we like or dislike our jobs. The kind of boss, the organization culture, the work hours, the pay package… In a recent insight workshop, we had a chance to reflect on this and it lead to an interesting perspective. I like a job because I like who I become when...

While reading a fascinating analysis of the impact of the nuclear attack on Japanese Anime films, reminded me of a project we did a decade ago. This article mentioned the recurring theme of orphaned kids (sometimes puppies and bear cubs) in Anime coming from the personal experience of many Japanese losing their parents to the...

It is said that animals reaffirm their connections by touching members of their clan. Human language emerged as a substitute for touching because the clan size grew too large for touching. We began speaking to ‘connect’ & reaffirm bonds. ‘Keep in touch’ is still how we refer to keeping relationships alive. An AT&T campaign said...

The Amitabh-Shashi duo featured in many hit movies of the 70s & 80s. Parveen Babi, often the heroine. An analyst once called Shashi Kapoor the ‘real Parveen Babi’ in Amitabh movies. Pointing at the centrality of their bromance in the movies. Consider an insight into this from understanding the core TG for these movies. The...

A couple of days back I was seeing this movie on TV and my house-help who is a big movie buff joined in to watch. End of the movie I asked her how she liked it. She said – ‘I liked it, how she hits her husband back’. (‘neejer shaami ke deelo’ in Bangla) Interesting...