“Mumbai may never sleep but it definitely pretends to go to bed at night.”
Mumbai may never sleep but it definitely pretends to go to bed at night. I love the calmness, the solitude that the depth of the nighttime brings. Some of my best work happens at night, maybe because the colors pop, ideas shine and noises die in the black canvas of time.
I didn’t know when I slept but I do remember seeing the fading night sky. Had just entered a state of deep sleep when the buzz of my phone woke me up. It was Kunel, the founder of the design agency-Animal. He told me that they are working with AB Inbev, yes! The beer brand was entering the streetwear space in India branded as ‘Budxstreet’. Animal had brilliantly extrapolated the design language from the Budweiser logo into the apparel and accessories but they needed my help to bring it to life. The concept of “street culture” is complex. Although I barely understood it, I know I could feel it. If you ever have been a modern dancer then you know you can’t stay untouched by the “Street”.
After hearing their thoughts, stories and ideas we reached a conclusion that the “Street” as Wasim puts it – is all about the hopes and dreams, emotions and boldness, the rush and the imagination. This helped us shape the vision for the video.
It was the peak of the pandemic in Mumbai. Even the brand had added the masks to its streetwear portfolio. Between my flight home on 17th June and the lockdown restrictions, we could only manage one day. I decided to brave the scorching heat of Mumbai but stay calm as ice to get the best shots both for the video and the photos. Samar Rajput had helped us with styling. We neither had time for permission letters, nor a plan for the spots and scenes. The gloomy undertones at the height of the pandemic when people had not only lost their freedom and a sense of certainty in life but also were losing their loved ones didn’t help either. It became all the more important to have fun along the way, we kept cracking jokes and vibing with the models to keep the mood alive. This helped us take a lot of shots that were very natural and candid. It was a guerilla shoot, the spontaneity of it was invigorating for me. The day ended with a feeling of satisfaction, my camera was full of great shots and my mind with great memories. I couldn’t just entertain the thought of delivering a mediocre reel of photos and videos. This had the potential to be great. I reached out to Shruti- the account manager and pushed for more time to compile it because hey guess what? Good work takes time.
But the journey was far from over. The pieces needed to be stitched together to tell a compelling story. I had reached out to Wasim Sajjad, a fellow design and pop-culture junkie from my alma mater for ideas. He seemed very intrigued by the core idea of “street culture”. After discussing our interpretations with each other, Wasim and I reached out to dancers, painters, rappers, and other performers – the people on the ‘street’ whom we knew or through someone to understand what the ‘street’ is all about. After hearing their thoughts, stories and ideas we reached a conclusion that the “Street” as Wasim puts it – is all about the hopes and dreams, emotions and boldness, the rush and the imagination. This helped us shape the vision for the video. While the moving street in front of the model signified the rush, the model standing in front of Irfan khan’s mural represented the hopes and aspirations of millions on the streets of Mumbai thinking of making it big in the “city of dreams”.
The client absolutely loved it. As they say, the best feedback is no feedback! There were hardly any major revisions, as we were in complete sync with the vision or may have far exceeded it.
The street also represents collaboration, something we imbibed as a team very well. We had people sitting in different corners of India contribute to making the end result as great as it is. We adapted to new ways of working, met on Zoom, Google Meets to brainstorm, critic, or ideate – something that I absolutely cherish from this experience. Wasim made the initial cuts and assemblies in Bangalore. I picked it up in Bhubaneswar to add more finesse. The amazing motion graphics were added by Wree in Mumbai and further enhanced by me. The music for this project was suggested by my roomie Sourav Sharma, a brilliant performing artist, and dancer. Though we had to bear an extra cost of about 150 USD for the licensing of the track, it was all worth it. Finally, Wasim made sure that the sound, the motion graphics, color tones, and the sound all came together neatly to show what the street culture and Budweiser Streetwear was about
The client absolutely loved it. As they say, the best feedback is no feedback! There were hardly any major revisions, as we were in complete sync with the vision or may have far exceeded it. We had captured the sensibilities of street culture, a boldness that Budweiser wanted to project, and successfully married it to the streets of Mumbai. I was proud of what we had achieved in a video that I had complete creative control over.
The social media response was overwhelming. The video was organically liked and shared by our target audience – the youth. The ad-campaign converted to sales over Myntra and direct Instagram sales.
The social media response was overwhelming. The video was organically liked and shared by our target audience – the youth. The ad-campaign converted to sales over Myntra and direct Instagram sales.
The hype over the social media launch of streetwear was visible in the form of thousands of likes and comments. The Influencers started posting self created content and tagged in IG.
The campaign was covered by many publications, even by the likes of Economic times.
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