When pets go off script

They say you need insurance because often life doesn’t go as per the script. But when you’re shooting a bunch of insurance ads with animals, you can be sure things will never go as per the script. They have their mood swings, tantrums, nap times and yes, some improv additions to make the scripts better! Of course, the ads turned out great, the country loved the campaign, and we have tons of beautiful memories about making room for the ‘unpredictability factor’ of our star cast.

Run Barfi Run!

The GIC (General Insurance Council of India) ad ‘Mary Burfi’ has gone viral, garnering millions of views and thousands of shares. So many have mentioned that the most emotive shot in the film is when the dog runs to greet Mary Aunty when she returns home in an auto. But the story behind the scenes is hilarious. 

Well, a dog chasing an auto can’t be the hardest shot to imagine, right? We see that every day on the streets. But Barfi sprung the biggest surprise – he just wouldn’t run to greet Mary. That was something nobody expected or planned for! Shot after shot, we tried various tricks – from his favourite treats to toys, from naps to even a day’s break! But every time, he only walked back to greet her, like an emperor strolling in his garden, with his tail up! Everyone was at their wits’ end; some murmurs of "should we move on" had already begun.

That’s when someone had a brainwave: “Let’s dress the trainer as the auto driver!”, a voice quipped! We waited with bated breath. The trainer whistled, and Barfi ran at high speed as happy tears rolled down in full speed. All of us knew we didn’t have this film if we didn’t have this shot! When we reflect on this episode, the only thing that strikes us is that a dog’s loyalty can never be bought! And there are few creatures on this planet more loyal than a dog. 

Meeting the Maa in ‘Humaaa’. The Buffalo story.

The film with a buffalo had its own twist. The selected buffalo had a cute little calf. The mom became the lamb, and the calf was Mary. Everywhere the calf went, the mom was sure to follow. When Shirish (director) saw this inseparable bond, he instantly came up with an idea, and we changed the script on the spot. The script changed from being the buffalo’s monologue to a curious conversation between a mother and her inquisitive bachada (offspring). When the buffalo had to be moved, the trainer only moved the calf, and big momma automatically followed. When you get more than you imagined, and that too without separating the mom from her kid, even for a second, you know you can’t ask for more!

Patience is the name of the game.

The biggest learning about shooting with animals is that you’ve got to have tons of patience. It’s in a way like shooting with babies. If you aren’t prepared to wait, you won’t get the magical shot – as simple as that. Simple shots, like when the dog looks up to see the soaring bat or the cat smacking her lips looking at the fly – it’s one thing to think of them, write them, present them, but it’s a different thing to capture them. It took time, tricks, and on-the-spot thinking to get the magic moments. And yes, sometimes you also get what you’re not looking for – like Oscar’s, the cat’s, smile at the end. Almost everyone cracks up looking at that smile of hers. It came out of nowhere – eyes closed and tongue out, like she was mocking us!

We rewrote the script when we got unexpected moments – like the funny moment when the cat twitched her ears, and we say, “Mera kaan khada hua…” or even when Chaubeyji’s dog beams at the end, the insanely talented Raghubir Yadav added an endearing “Jiyo Chaubey Ji!” The cutest trick on the set came from Oscar, the cat. She blesses people. You bow down, and she puts her fluffy little paws on your head. We all took turns to take her blessings, but we all knew that all animals, with their several improv additions, had played a huge role in blessing this campaign. Because every time we went ‘off the script’, we only landed in a much better place.

Achha Kiya, Inka Suna!