Wednesday 20 February 2013
Yamaraj — Drink and Get Driven
Yamaraj — Drink and Get Driven, a two-minute advertisement on road safety posted on YouTube on Friday by traffic police has become the latest and the most incredible internet sensation. The video has gone viral on YouTube notching up more than 147,100 views by Monday.
The video is about the dangers of drunk driving. The traffic police had given the ad film in a radically different way instead of the usual, uninspired, boring safety messages like ‘Speed Thrills But Kills’ and ‘Start Early, Reach Safely’.
Yama, the god of death, is the central character in the video, which was made in collaboration with Zara Tapas Bar, a popular bar on Cathedral Road in the city. On Friday, when several visitors got into their cars from the bar to head home, they almost were in a shocked bafflement instantly.
Yama with all bloodshot eyes, ornamented with a big moustache and mace, was sitting in their car and talking to them. Some screamed, some went speechless and the reactions of the visitors were captured and uploaded on YouTube early on Saturday.
The ad is made by McCann-Erickson, Bangalore. Rathish P. Subramaniam, who conceptualised the ad said the idea was to drive home the message in a funny way, but also to make sure it is taken seriously.
Actually, this video is not an ad, but an awareness campaign meant to spread a message to people in a different manner. The idea to use Yama in the ad was not only to make the campaign humorous but also impart a certain sense of fear among those who drink and drive.
The director of the ad, 29-year old Shivakar Srinivasan said that he did not expect this kind of response. He said the actor Radhakrishnan, who did the Yama role is the showstopper. The fact that his moustache is real only added to the effect.
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