Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Not A Love Story’ gave Mahie Gill not just a meaty role in her career, it also gave her a chance to share screen space with Mammootty! Don’t believe? For it was her great performance in the movie that caught the attention of the makers of the new television ad of Pothys, featuring Mammootty as the Venad ruler and Mahie as his queen.
The ad currently on air has been shot by the duo JD-Jery (short form for Joseph D Sami and Jerald Arockiam) against the backdrop of the opening of the first Pothys showroom outside Tamil Nadu, at Thiruvananthapuram, on September 15. JD-Jery has to their credit some of the popular TVCs, especially in Tamil.
Sharing the experience, Jery said, “It is our first venture with Mammootty sir. And when we both had discussions with him about whom should be cast as the queen, Mahie Gill’s name came up since she was getting rave reviews for her role in ‘Not A Love Story’. We finalised her immediately.” Mahie shot to fame with her role in ‘Dev D’ and also had a notable role in ‘Dabangg’.
The ad, shot in a set put up at AVM Studio, Chennai, has banked on Mammootty’s act as the king in the movie ‘Pazhassi Raja’ which was widely appreciated. “We had to cash in on his fame and also the historical figure he had portrayed beautifully on the big screen. In fact, in the Tamil TVC of Pothys we had cast Sathyaraj and Seetha against a historic backdrop,” Jery said.
Some of the big names in entertainment industry have been associated with the ad. Jagathy Sreekumar has been cast in the ad. While Milan (‘Billa’ fame) has made the set, cinematography has been done by Thiru. Music is by Gopi Sundar. “Shankar Ramakrishnan, who wrote the script for ‘Urumi’, has written the dialogues,” Jery says.
The duo has been in the industry for 15 years or so and has done umpteen commercials, movies (‘Ullasam’, produced by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd), ‘Whistle’ and ‘Pandavas- The Five Warrriors’, (a National Award-winning an animation movie), serials and documentaries. They have done a number of ads with nearly 30 popular heroines, including Sriya Saran, Tamanna and Tapsi. JD-Jery has done other Malayalam TVCs for clients like Red FM, MTS mobile and Ramraj dhoties. Their client list has names like Sun DTH, Saravana Stores, The Chennai Silks, Kalyan Jewellers, Shakthi Masala etc.
“We have worked with Big B, Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth (they were the production designers of ‘Sivaji’) and were keen to work with Mammootty. This association with Mammootty is going to continue since he is brand ambassador of Pothys,” says Jery, who along with Joseph, were students of Balu Mahendra.