10 Years of India’s 1st Brand Feature Film: Mere Dad ki Maruti

Mere Dad ki Maruti was released theatrically on 15th March 2013. 10 years ago. And what a ride it was. Have some of the most special memories on this film. Here are 10 [+ 1 bonus] pieces of trivia about it that you may find interesting. But check out the trailer first. This went out embedded with Yash Chopra's last film Jab Tak Hai Jaan and got the hugest reach we could have EVER hoped for!

1.?????The Film is inspired by John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

John Hughes was my blueprint for the youth films studio [Y-Films] I launched at Yash Raj Films. I had some apprehensions when Aditya Chopra first pitched the idea to set up a studio like that thinking, what if his reference points of youth films were Neal ‘n’ Niki! I was immediately comforted when I saw the poster of Breakfast Club [Hughes’ first film as director] in his office. One of my all time favorite films written and directed by Hughes is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. There’s an iconic scene where Ferris convinces his best friend Cameron to sneak out his dad’s Ferrari. They leave it at a parking lot when two goons take it all over town for a spin. It’s a 2-minute sequence – but I knew there was a full film in there!

2.?????Ram Kapoor made his Bollywood debut thanks to Bhumi Pednekar

I’d always loved Pawan Malhotra. From his days on Nukkad. He totally got the film when we met him. We spent hours talking about Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron on which he was an AD [his responsibility was to source the rat that Sudhir Mishra shoots in the sequence, “Yahaan chuha chu bhi nahi kar sakta!”] He loved the film, but his dates were blocked for Bhaag Milkha. I was stuck. That’s when our Associate Casting Director, Bhumi [she used to assist Shanoo Sharma] suggested Ram Kapoor who was a massive TV star. We went over to pitch the film to him and his entire belly jiggled laughing at the plot… I knew we’d found our Tej Khullar!

3.?????Rhea Chakraborty’s character, “it’s Jazzleen, not Jasleen!” was inspired by an MTV Splitsvilla contestant

I was bored of seeing the traditional, long-haired, pretty, smart, girl next door, or hot heroine in films. Chandigarh used to be the biggest hunting ground for our MTV reality show contestants – 70% of contestants for Roadies [Rannvijay, Ayushmann, Bani], Splitsvilla have come out of there. Every 2nd house in Chandigarh you’ll find an aspiring contestant there. Great looking, very well turned out but full raita! There was an audition where a girl introduced herself saying, “Main Chandigarh ki Shakira hoon!” – that became my brief to Ishita, and that’s the epic introduction to Jazzleen in the film! The ‘Tatti’ English mein “I am love you” getting a response of “I am also love you!” is all Ish after that!

4.?????Honey Singh made his Bollywood debut thanks to our dialogue writer, Ishita

The dialogue writer on the film, Ishita Moitra [she just wrote Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahaani for Karan Johar] asked if we could relocate the film out of Mumbai to Chandigarh to add flavor. Given the indie/ start up studio we were, taking the film outdoor was expensive. But as soon as Ishita played a [Yo Yo] Honey Singh track for the vibe she was going for, I knew we had to hack it. I think I dipped into mobile, travel, expenses, got the cast to share rooms and what not, and figured out a 15 day outdoor to Chandigarh! Honey came on board thanks to Mika who was doing a track for us, but we 15 songs on the OST, all in the vibe of Yo Yo!

This is the jukebox of the songs from the OST:

5.?????Real life love story in a Maruti happened on our sets

Ishita met Neeraj Udhwani [who wrote the film's story and screenplay and is also a very talented director, he just directed Triplings Season 3] for the first time on our sets, in his banged up red Maruti 800! They’re now married with a beautiful daughter.

6.?????Diljit Dosanjh sang a Bollywood song for the first time… and that too free!

The album was shaping out to be insane… but for the title song we needed a power voice with quirk. That’s when Kumaar, our lyric writer [he wrote all of Pathaan songs among many others] came up with the idea of talking to Diljit. As luck would have it, he happened to be in town for meeting. We pitched, he said yes in literally 10 seconds and recorded the same evening. He had such a blast, he just refused to take any money.

This is him at our recording:

https://youtu.be/TRmvBAfeK8U

7.?????Panjabi MC scored his first Bollywood song with Mere Dad ki Maruti

We had all tripped on what Rajinder [Panjabi MC] had done with Knight Rider and Mundian Te… he defined the whole Brit Asian sound. I had pulled him for a performance for the MTV Music Awards a few years back and thought getting him on to our album would be cool. The process of scoring was really amazing… he pitched us a few grooves and then kept adding layers of phat beats and vocals with an awesome hook, making it the best opening credit sequence for our film.

Check out Haay!:

https://youtu.be/oyF0bkCaYNw

8.?????Stomp Music and Nucleya popped in Bollywood courtesy Red Bull for the first time in a Bollywood song

Nucleya used actual car sounds, from the wipers swiping, to the ignition turning on/ off, doors slamming open/ shut, windows rolling up/ down to create a banger of a Stomp version of the title track. Red Bull came in as they saw this was no traditional Bollywood film – and brought in some of the best Hip Hop dance champions to choreograph this track.

Check out MDKM Stomp here:

https://youtu.be/YqJa6bSZn5k

9.?????Jaspal Bhatti’s wife Savita Bhatti was in the film

Jaspal saab is the godfather of spoof, satire with his Flop Show. Savita ji, his wife IRL used to play Preeti, his screen wife in the series with impeccable comic timing. As we were building out a colorful ensemble of cousins, chachas, phuphas, buas… her name came to mind. But Bhatti saab has passed away in a tragic accident then and were a little worried about reaching out to her. Eventually we did, and she told us that he’d have liked her to continue laughing, working, smiling and making others laugh. She shared such amazing stories on set, and we were blessed to get to work with her.

This is her looking shocked in the audience in one of our crazier songs, Hip Hip Hurrah:

10.??The ‘Branded Film’ happened by accident

I’d been toying with the idea of doing a branded feature film from the days I was heading MTV. I really believed Roadies was a film waiting to happen. It had all the drama, twists, characters – both on-screen and behind the scenes to make for a compelling show. Somehow the outline never fell into place. With the story of a boy who sneaks his stingy dad’s car and loses it, the car was core to the story and was in the title – seamlessly. It was too good an opportunity to pass up pitching to a brand. We’d have made the film irrespective, but I’ve always believed, being profitable gives you the opportunity to be creative, to take more risks… and with a brand coming on board we’d be able to market our small film better so decided to pitch!

11.??Maruti came on board last

We had offers from a couple of brands, as a barter for cars, marketing support, some cash… but nothing felt as seamless as Maruti. I was worried about them being really bureaucratic, conservative on budgets. But I decided to take a chance and pitch it anyway. The Media/ Strat Head @SunilaDhar knocked my socks off championing the deal in their system. We had the most compelling offer from them in 1 week flat. And the rest is history! It launched their new compact SUV, the Ertiga really well. And, in fact, test drives [which is the primary marketing barometer for the auto category] went up by 30% during month of release. [Here’s a brief case-study if you want to read up some more details: https://patilashish27.blogspot.com/2019/10/how-indias-1st-brand-feature-film.html]

Tons of brands and studios have tried to pull off another like this. But Teri Maa ki Vodafone just doesn't have the same ring now. And this one remains truly special, being quoted as a benchmark and one of the most powerful ways content marketing has been leveraged. There's certainly a sequel waiting to happen... hopefully soon!