Acting in commercials that treasure cute young things

After remembering the heady days and paradise that was Africa, let’s  turn the clock forward and back to 'Life Begins at Eighty'.

After that nasty fall last January, life was in the slow lane for a short while. I couldn’t have played a happy-go-lucky elderly gentleman waving out with a big smile to a Maruti Suzuki driven by Ranbir Kapoor, with my one hand in plaster and stitches on my eyebrow. So I had to reluctantly turn down the TV commercial offer. But they say “The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow”. Soon another offer comes. I am invited by an ad company — for whom I had already done the Cadbury Gems commercial — for a Flipkart commercial.

The shoot was at a studio in Andheri. I reach by 9am and am escorted to my make-up-cum-changing room airconditioned van. Leaving my personal belongings in the van, I head straight for breakfast. The youngsters in the cast are already there, walloping away at the sumptuous breakfast that is laid out. I joined them over a cup of coffee and some cookies. The director was busy setting up the locale with his technical team. It was a long wait.

Chatted with the young players. There were some pretty girls aspiring to make it in Bollywood. Some of them who remembered my iconic Vodafone commercial wanted to take Selfies with me. I felt like a ‘star’ once again.

The film's locale was a hospital waiting room with around 10 patients awaiting their turn. I was in a wheelchair, a needle in my arm and a drip bottle by my side.The director explained the mood he wanted from each one of us, some looking sad or bored, some twiddling their thumbs or picking their noses. I was bang in the front line. The shoot was about to begin when the ad agency boss (thinking who would want to see a bored old man with a sad expression right in front) whispered something in the director’s ear. They brought a cute young thing who was at the back along by my side, half covering me. The ‘star’ was now cut in half. Suddenly we heard a loud bang and we woke up with happy faces, Bollywood style music and jubiliation all around. We took a break for lunch.

I pondered during lunch what if Amitabh Bachchan was playing the role. Would they have covered him! I was in no mood to eat and only tried some dry-fruits  and my favourite peanut chikki .

Lunch over, a dance teacher arrived to show us the steps  for the dance sequence to follow. Change of costume and I shed my dowdy hospital gown to wear a colourful Hawaiian shirt teamed with tight-fitting white jeans and fancy shoes. I looked at myself in the mirror. Wow! My spirits were revived. The shoot continued. I was in the front line again. I twist and turn, a la Elvis Presley, wondering how my children would be laughing away  and my grandchildren all excited over grandpa's new avatar. Suddenly the shoot stopped. It seemed the director for a moment had forgotten that I was not Amitabh. The sequence was reshot with all the pretty young things moved up to the front and the oldies at the back, barely drawing attention. 

You win some, you lose some. You are a ‘star’ in one and go unnoticed in another. That’s the world of TV commercials, unless you are a Bollywood celebrity or a cricket legend.

The author is a well-known stage personality