Balki’s interaction at IIM-L

R Balki, the director of movies like Paa and Cheeni Kum, during his visit to the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) on Tuesday, appeared impressed with the budding managers. Perhaps that is why he threw an open invite to IIM students to “come and give him “some competition”.

For the uninitiated, Balki, is also a well known ad maker with advertisements like ‘daag acche hain’ (remember the Surf advertisement?) and ‘Jago Re’ (Tata Tea) to his credit.

And Balki’s ‘come and compete’ invite was primarily aimed at urging the management students to probe career opportunities in the ad world.

“I hope to see you as my competition and well, as my client,” Balki remarked during an interaction with the students of the premier management institute. After a pause, he added, “Advertisement is not about doing things correctly. Rather, it is about doing things interestingly.”

His advice to IIM students was very simple: “It’s better to change before it becomes necessary (to change).”

Describing the difference between filmmaking and advertising, he said, “In ad-making, you make a film for your client. In films, till such time a movie becomes a commercial success, you are both the maker as well as the client.”

He said, “Idea rules the advertisement world,” he said in response to a query whether celebrities ensure the success of an advertisement.

“Celebrities are important but then the idea is even more important. For instance in the ‘daag acche hain’ commercial, there is no celebrity. Yet, it has become so popular,” he said.

Needless to add, the management students were impressed by the interaction.

Ishani Pruthi an IIM-L student said, “We are an enthusiastic bunch of youths who believe in following our own dreams. And today’s interaction with the film and ad maker helped us realize that we are not wrong.”

Zinnia Sheoran, another IIM-L student said, “Being at IIM means opportunity to interact with those who have been-there-done-that. Tuesday’s workshop with Balki was very innovative and inspirational. It was very different experience.”