Scarecrow bursts crackers with 'Radio City ke patakhe' for a smoke-less Diwali

Scarecrow and Radio City have launched ‘Radio City ke patakhe: Iss Diwali, khushiyan hogi, dhua nahi’ – a Diwali initiative in which the channel is bursting crackers on the radio.

The initiative has been launched with an ad film, ‘Patakhon ka Aurangzeb’, that will remind people of the nostalgic Malgudi Days. Radio City urges the listeners to enjoy a smoke-free experience with a zing of music on Radio City. The money you save can light up somebody’s Diwali.

As a part of the national on-air activity, Radio City encourages the idea of celebrating Diwali without the use of crackers to help make this a smoke-free and environmental-friendly festival.

Shot at the heritage lane, Desai Ni Pol in Ahmedabad, where the legendary Gujarati poet Akha Bhagat once lived, the film weaves the story of a khadoos uncle one finds in every colony. An uncle who won’t allow kids to play cricket, who will snatch their cricket ball, and even scold them for bursting crackers. There’s always an Aurangzeb type uncle in every colony. And this film is a story revolving around the khadoos uncle and a group of mischievous kids who have been asked to not burn crackers, but still do it in their own little mischievous way.

Manish Bhatt

Commenting on the film, Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow, said, “This is not just a film, it’s a revival of stories like Malgudi Days we have grown up watching. Short story narratives are adorable for kids and early viewers. But lately, that trend has changed. We rarely see villains like Mogambo and Gabbar these days. Through Aurangzeb, we got an opportunity to create a small khadoos character that’s a tribute to the ones we have seen in our old days.”

To accentuate the film further, more layers have been added to the khadoos uncle’s character. For example, in the film, he is shown as a connoisseur of classical music. A classical song has been created to highlight the different moods and conflict. The song is sung by Aniket Khanderkar (a renowned classical singer and mentor from Ahmedabad) and has been rendered in Raag Darbari, a midnight raga that features quirky use of lyrics ‘Soor ki sej pe sove asurva’ (indicating a demon sleeping to the beats of music).

Commenting on the launch of the initiatives, Kartik Kalla, EVP and National Head, Programming, Marketing and AudaCity, Radio City 91.1 FM, said, “Radio has the impact and the potential to reach out to the masses and we at Radio City want to leverage this to promote the true essence of Diwali. Through Radio City ke patake, we want to educate people to look beyond crackers this festive season and inculcate the culture of a safe and pollution-free Diwali.”

Produced by Green Chutney, the short film is directed by Manan Bhatt and was conceived and executed in less than a week.

The Campaign:

Credits:

Agency: Scarecrow Communications

Creative team: Manish Bhatt, Raghu Bhat, Anindya Banerjee, Kunal Parkar, Yuvraj Gorule

Account management: Arunava Sengupta, Mangesh Mulajkar, Kushank Manhot.

Client Team: Abraham Thomas, Kartik Kalla, Varsha Ojha, Tipti Agarwal, Amreen Shaikh, Anay Pantojee.

Production House: Green Chutney Films

Producer: Rahul Tejwani

Director and Editor: Manan Bhatt

DOP: Mustaqeem Khan

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