Oh, the soulful tune of AirTel. (I had to come back to mouth-shut to write a review on this piece of art). Undoubtedly, the tune has remained same, but AIRTEL advertisements have come a long way, from being obnoxiously stupid to very expressive. The earlier commercials featuring A. R. Rehman running in to a wedding ceremony to this latest advertisement, I would say that AirTel has come a long way to reach the correct place.

Ok, this is how it goes: It starts with a shot from the Quit India Movement: "Two words can bring down an empire".
Then it cuts to Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech. Caption with the shot this time: "One dream can change the world."
The next frame shows David Shepherd declaring Tendulkar as out & Tendulkar glancing at the heavens. Caption: "One raised finger can break a billion hearts."
Winston Churchill appears in the frame, addressing a huge gathering during the War. & the caption continues from the previous image "... and two can win a war!"
The images that follow (if you are lucky to view the full version of this advertisement) are of:
Dalai Lama – a whisper can inspire hope…
Mother Teresa – one touch can instill faith…
Lata Mangeshkar – some voices can move a nation…
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – yet some others can dissolve boundaries…
The demolition of the Berlin Wall – one act of defiance can spark a revolution…
& finally, a large gathering of people holding candles – one hundred thousand candles can end a war…

Throughout the commercial, the A. R. Rahman – composed Airtel tune plays in the background, as the words "That is the power of human expression" appear on screen…

Conceptually speaking, it’s not tough to relate the entire advertisement with the product: a cell phone network service provider. The product tag line – “Express Yourself” relates best with the product advertisement. While the last line says: "That is the power of human expression", the product Tag line urges the on-looker to Express. And in the advertisement, they have just depicted few of the examples of the power of Human Expression. Simple, yet so subtle.

Though only the major events of the world that occurred in the last century have been covered in this advertisement & they have been associated with the power of Human Expressions, a keen observer (like me) would find lots of power being expressed by human emotions in the day-to-day life.
Few examples, the expression on the face of the beggar who knocks on the car panes on a busy signal, which urges the commuter to shell out a rupee or two, amidst the traffic chaos.

Or the emotion expressed by a lover boy who’s trying to convince a girl to accept his love (the most common picture that clicks is one of a guy – bent on his knees holding a bunch of flowers in his hand & pleading his lady of love).

Or, for that matter, the expression on face of a Gujarat Riot victim which speaks lots of the inhumanity faced by the people out there (The photo speaks so much of itself that based on this photo, Amnesty International intervened to urge the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat to ensure that all law enforcement agencies deployed in the state, as well as in the rest of the country).

Coming back to the advertise, as compared to the earlier Advertise featuring King Khan & likes, this one scores over itself as well as near best advertises by its competitor Hutch. Commercials of Hutch are best in their own way – either good in spreading messages relating to mobile etiquettes or playing good background scores – though plagiarized. However, other cell phone network service providers ought to learn advertising – especially IDEA & BSNL.

Hats off to this commercial, for its original tune, the concept, the message & of course, it’s overall content...