"No fun without desipann"

That's the tagline for the new Kurkure ad.

Desipann refers to 'being natively indian' (loosely translated)

The ad talks about the Cinderella story except that the fairy god mother dresses her in a "lehenga choli' instead of a gown. You can see the ad here.

The ad quite literally acts on the insight that a good way to engage the audience is through stories.

In India, it became cool and, I dare say, intellectual to be 'desi' just a couple of years ago. The sentiment was well captured for the first time in the 2006 iconic movie "rang de basanti".

Indian advertising, however, adopted desipann much before 'rang de basanti'. From the time Fevicol ads made it big on the international dais, ads have had screeching villager voice-overs often blended with western concepts such as in this ad.

Jean Dru Marie in his book Disruption says that the best way to know about a country is to switch on the TV and watch its ads. So true.

These ads which have a dash of desipann reflects on India's heightened comfort level and pride for who we are.

PS: better translation for 'desipann' solicited. :)