Raghu Dixit Project

I happened to know about this when I was seeing MTV alert. The concept is new and different and so I want to share the same. Its about this guy - Raghu Dixit - young, passionate, self - taught musician. He does not have a fixed band. He travels from place to place and those interested can join him and travel along with him. So, the band changes from place to place and he is the only fixed member of the band. Further, his music is a lot of folk combined with rock, pop, jazz and blues that it lacks definition. The advantage is that each member perceives the same song differently. So, you get different beats, rhythms, moods, tempo for each time the same song is played with different members. That's cool isn't it.

His video song Hey Bhagwan seems good. Again it can be interpreted in two ways. The original or the intended interpretation is that every one deserves a second chance at life, for all that the person does or do. The other interpretation is that inspite of all the difficulties and hardships, this life is special and memorable for each and everyone and he is asking God to give a second chance to give this life.

Is this the way, the future of the music is going to be? This is an interesting experiment / project and I am really anxious to know what the general public thinks about the same. For more details on the Raghu Dixit project - http://raghudixit.com/

Pulsar Mania

Hi All,
I'm back after a long break. Had a nice time relaxing at home doing absolutely nothing. This post is about Bajaj's latest advertisement for Pulsar called Pulsarmania. There are and will be extreme viewpoints on this advertisement. But love it or hate it, you just can't ignore the advertisement. Bajaj has traditionally broken clutter through its ads be it the 'Hamara Bajaj' family ad or the Discover Jackie Chan ad or the initial Pulsar 'Definitely Male' advertisement. This latest Pulsarmania continues the Bajaj tradition of making visually stunning and conceptually different ads.

Now coming to the ad itself, almost all of us would have noticed it by now - it features a series of stunning dare-devilry stunts on Pulsar bikes. The objections to this ad are:
1. The warning seems inadequate
2. The relevance of this ad to the product
3. The ill-effects or the impressions this ad leaves on the mind of young, impressionable minds who are the prime targets for the product

My opinion:
1. The warning is adequate. The black screen initially mentioning that the stunts are dramatized and performed by experts are long enough to read and the fine print appears continuosly through the duration of the ad. I am not sure if 'Do not try this at home' exists, but it would be a welcome addition.

2. Pulsar is Bajaj's macho offering - the man's bike. Speed, power, pickup are its selling points and not cost, mileage etc., Its target segment also care for these issues more. And I guess this ad brings out most of the product characteristics in the ad well.

3. People owning Pulsar or planning to buy will be definitely thrilled and may try to imitate these actions. But enough warning has been issued. You cannot blame Bajaj as being irresponsible in bringing out this ad. As always, buyers beware.

Finally, my view about the ad. Simply superb. Visually stunning. You have to give full credit to the creatives team for coming up with a spectacular ad. Give particular notice to the camera angles especially the next time you see this ad - especially the two wheelies criss crossing in a X direction while three wheelies coming straight. But the Pièce de résistance is the final reverse wheelie (for the lack of a better term) where all come to rest in different angles forming a stand. Man, if that is done for real, it would be one of the finest stunts I have seen - ever. Hats off to Bajaj!

Do write your comments / criticisms of this post!