In the annals of Indian advertising history, a punch line that remains unmatched in popularity and recall value is “Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar”. This line was picturised on a baffled husband (played by Raja Bundela) and a concerned wife standing in a shop of home appliances. The cheeky shopseller after giving a spiel on the working of the pressure cooker asks him naughtily “…ye to bataiye aap apni biwi se kitna pyar karte hain?” to which the husband responds with an agitated “Kya matlab hai aapka?”. The shopkeeper, in turn responds with the iconic line, “Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar”, penned by Sadiqa Peerbhoy of Bangalore-based MAA ad agency.
An apt conveyor of emotions attaching much significance to a husband-wife relationship, it turned the tide for many in the business. “It was the only time when a client wrote to me saying something like ‘Even though I don’t agree with you I must say that the campaign has gone on to become hugely successful. May be I was wrong’…Clients hardly admit they were wrong. It’s usually my way or highway,” says the famous adman, Prahlad Kakkar, who had directed the TVC for MAA. Kakkar is referring to the previous ad that had generated a bit of controversy. “In that there was just a woman who discusses the pressure cooker and then thanks the Prestige group for making her life safe by coming up with a pressure cooker that has strong safety features. She then asks Prestige to do something about her husband also. This didn’t go very well with T.T. Jagannathan, who felt that the women in a conservative society like ours wouldn’t like to compare their husbands with pressure cookers. We had to get his wife to intervene and give a go ahead,” remembers Kakkar.
The ad was a runaway success and the ad agency released its second spot complete with a narrative around the household plot. The powerful punch line remained. Raja Bundela, who featured in the second spot, was a struggler at that time doing drama with Prithvi Theatre. “I got money and instant recognition. Doing theatre we would make Rs.100 everyday but for this ad I got Rs.20,000 and I wrote to everyone I knew inviting them to come and have a drink with me. I was suddenly rich and I also started getting more ads after that. Women would see me and say ‘arre pati ho to aisa’,” says Bundela not forgetting to give credit to ad professionals like Prahlad Kakkar, Kailash Surendranath for introducing common faces like his to the world of advertisements. An ad on a kitchen appliance needed a common face for people to be able to relate to it.
Prestige’s arch rival at that that time was Hawkins which was ruling the roost.
But Prestige had launched a new product so revolutionary that the ad had to match its novelty. “We would often hear of pressure cookers exploding and housewives getting injured so Prestige came out with a pressure cooker equipped with GRS (Gasket Release System). Instead of the melt gasket, it had a rubberised gasket which reduced the risk as it allowed the pressure to be released safely. So, the ad had to highlight this feature strongly. There were different pressure cookers in the race but this ad turned it into a two-horse race,” says Kakkar.
Over the years, the line got lost only to make a comeback in the new commercials launched with power couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan endorsing TTK Prestige.
