Lost In Translation
“Santhusht a Irukatheenga”, a smiley faced SRK ad-vises us Kuppans and Subbans of Tamil Land. This is the dubbed version of the DishTV ad on one of the Tamil channels. DishTV may not have plans to penetrate the rural veins of TN, but such an ad would plant a premature R.I.P on any possible prospects.
Ads are money. And big money at that. They provide the return on investment only if they reach the targeted audience. TN is not like other Indian states. You cannot afford to expect people to know what Santhusht is, especially when repeated in Junoon-tamil sentences. By a face alien to the masses (barring the peeps SRK made into few elitist tamil movies).
The equivalent Tamil word might destroy the lip-sync. It may even kill the cute little skewed rhyme the sathusht-dish-wish make. But retaining it would make the very first step in communication wobbly.
One can reason, that inserting incomprehensible info can create curiosity, but what the heck, even the well orchestrated “nalarai pal” and “pulli-raja” campaigns became relics way too soon in their life cycles.
When there are toddlers who can recite 1330 kurals verbatim, why do kids with tongues pasted to the roof of their mouths dub for ads? Creativity can take a backseat, but sensibilities can’t afford to. Ads as such, are an intrusion, and are more often than not used as breaks from the couch to check on the launderette or the cooking. Given the limited attention capture time, sloppiness can be a costly mistake.
As a contrast, the Tanishq ad for Diwali made one Santhusht. It had a known persona of star value, Asin, totting the jewellery for “Dhanteras”, also a concept new to tamils (the majority). It clearly conveyed the message, with Asin urging us, with flawless diction, to book in advance for the festive “Dhanteras”. I, for one, looked up for “Dhanteras” and was able to place the context.
As a check, I asked my maid, what she understood by Dhanteras. “Namma Atchaya thiruthiyai pola Deepvali ku etho podranma” (translated as “They are launching something like our Akshaya Thrithyai for this Deepavali”).
Its time ad-men paid attention to the basics.
