Nike captures India's cricket pulse, with 'Parallel Journeys'

Nike released its latest TV campaign 'Parallel Journeys', during India's match against England in the T20 World Cup on 23 September. The film had released a day earlier on the brand's Facebook page.

The film, created by JWT Bangalore, shows the everyday journey of cricket crazy youth in India; from aspiring cricketers to that of cricketers from the Indian team. The journey shows how every individual pursues the same dream; starting with the commitment to reach the training grounds and playing fields on time. It also shows how cricketers across levels take to the field and practice before their big games. The film ends just before the first ball of the match is bowled, with a super that brings out Nike's tagline 'Just do it'. Cricketers from the Indian team in the film include Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Suresh Raina.

Avinash Pant, marketing director, Nike India, said, “Nike’s ‘Parallel Journeys’ captures the journey to perfection in the sport clearly demonstrating the passion and hunger of a new breed that will stop at nothing. In the true spirit of ‘Just Do it’, a new generation of millions of young athletes can believe that one day they will be the voice of an entire nation.”

Commenting on the film, Senthil Kumar, writer and national creative director, JWT India, said, "This film is an authentic commentary on the parallel journeys of India’s bloodline, which is not just 15 players on the bench but a billion strong. The idea was born from the insight that at any point in time on any given day the journeys of the current world champions of the game run parallel to the journeys of millions of cricket crazy youth across the country. The epic execution celebrates the common thread between these parallel journeys, capturing the pursuit of greatness in the many parallel worlds of India’s cricket crazy bloodline. And when the parallel lines blur across the country, like they do on a daily basis, we realize that everyone in the bloodline is pursuing the same dream. Bleeding blue, every moment of the journey."
The film has been directed by Abhinay Deo of RDP Films. The music director is Dhruv Ganekar and the vocal percussionist is Taufiq Qureshi.

Unplugged moments

The film was shot through August 2012, with parallel camera crews capturing hundreds of parallel journeys of real cricket playing youth and team india athletes - from the moment they wake up through training until the moment before the big game.

There are no actors in the film, underlines Senthil Kumar - just authentic players of the game from various corners of the country. To capture them, the crew travelled to homes, buses, trains, boats, gyms, chawls, gullies, colonies, schools, clubs and playgrounds that are the grooming grounds for cricket crazy Indian youth, across geographies. During the course of the three-week schedule, shoots were held at locations including Kashmir, Ladakh, Jodhpur, Delhi, Indore, Bhopal, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and Pondicherry.

The original soundtrack used in the film has been created using voices alone. The intent has been to capture 'the first ever vocal symphony of the collective soul of cricket', say its creators.

Credits

Client: Nike India
Marketing director: Avinash Pant
Brand connections manager: Varun Puri
Agency: JWT India
National creative director, writer: Senthil Kumar
Client services director: Meeta Bharvani
Account management: Karthik Katti and Shri Pendakur
Films department: Anupama Ahluwalia, Kaushal Thakkar, Parimala George
Production house: RDP FILMS
Director: Abhinay Deo
Producer: Apurba Sengupta
Director of photography: Yakob Ihre
Cinematographer – 2nd unit: Tapan Basu
Music Director: Dhruv Ghanekar
Vocal percussionist: Taufiq Qureshi
Vocals: Dhruv, Taufiq and cricket crazy youth