In 1983 Joseph Chavara was a journalist in Kerala looking to jump into filmmaking. His wishes took him to Chennai where director after director refused to give him a chance until he finally decided to take baby steps into the world himself, by making ad films. He opened Chavara Ad Media in 1985, which enters its 30th year this year, and Joseph is all set to make his 400th ad film.
Looking back on this journey, from his first ad film with Parthas to his forthcoming one for Tierra Foods’ tapioca chips, Joseph says technology and the times have changed but creativity is still what makes ads click. In his early days, Joseph functioned as a one-man army directing, scripting, shooting and marketing his work. Today, he is supported by two teams in Kochi and Kottayam, and Chavara Ad Media is respected for being among the handful of Kerala’s earliest ad filmmakers with 230 clients to date.
Joseph says his most memorable works have been in branding products that hitherto had not been advertised for. His first such success was with Nirapara rice, which he sold by describing the traditional lifestyles of paddy farmers in Kuttanad. “Similarly, we marketed V Guard cables by giving the technical specifics of the cable in the ad itself. In that time song and dance sequences were the standard approach to advertising,” he says. Another challenge was introducing the idea of dosa podi to audiences accustomed to dosa maavu, and even mixed curry powders through Diner’s Choice.
Back in the 80s, Joseph remembers keeping copies of his advertisements on film negatives, much later on cassettes, digibeta formats, and finally into the digital age. “I don’t even have copies of some of my earliest advertisements. The only records are is the audio cassettes onto which I used to audio test our advertisements before shooting them.” It was also a time when most ads in Kerala were shot by agencies from Mumbai.
For much of the music in his ads, Joseph recalls roping in ‘Violin Jacob’, a musician who until then had made music only for the theatre stage. Since then Joseph treasures having worked extensively with music director Gopi Sundar and even remaking two advertisements for which A.R. Rahman had first composed the music for — one for Bhavans studios and another for V Guard.
Over the years Joseph says his approach to ad filmmaking has changed. “In the beginning it was grand transformations and big stories. Magical moments played a huge role,” he says citing an early Alapatt ad where an old lady transforms into a young girl the minute she adorns the jewellery, and yet another where Priyanka Chopra plucked ornaments from the sky. “Today the focus is on small ideas, told effectively,” he says. What hasn’t changed is advertising’s soft corner for celebrities. “It’s important to remember that the star doesn’t overshadow the product,” he cautions.
Joseph’s creative method currently involves getting each member of his team to ideate a script for each product, tailor-made for their target group chosen. “We finally use only one script, but ideas will spark from each person’s story.”
Ad films aside, Joseph has made over 2,000 radio ads, shot a tele-film and made an acclaimed documentary on DC Kizhakemuri, the founder of DC Books, which was telecast on Doordarshan a week after his death. For all his successes, Joseph says he rues that advertising often doesn’t get its due. “Creative people in advertising are considered credible only if they enter films. There are great directors, musicians and writers in advertising. I hope the future gives them the respect they deserve in this industry itself.”
