"Jai Ho!" A failed campaign?

When Congress bought rights to "Jai Ho" for a whopping $200,000 from Tips, it broke all conventions. It became the first Indian political party to buy the rights to a song solely for its election campaign. The plan was grand - Percept Media was to make 6 different 60 seconds clips, featuring different facets of development of India.

These ads started appearing everywhere, on TV, the theatres, on the outdoor media consoles. The "Aam aadmi ke badte kadam; har kadam par bharat buland." was forced on the faces of the gullible voters. It was what the guys in advetising industry talk about as "Carpet Bombing". Congress had the moolah and it was hellbent on using it to the fullest.

But then suddenly came the comparison between the BJP's "India Shining" campaign, the ill-fated campaign which brought the mighty party down to its knees in the last elections. At a time when the middle class was jhelofying the maar from mehngayi, bhrastachar, aatankwaadand what not, singing on the tunes of a victorious song suddenly did not seem to be such a good idea. The mandarins at the high-command at Akbar Road decided to pull off the campaign and only three of the films could see the light of the day.

Well, dunno how and dunno why but this strategy seemed to work. UPA won overwhelmingly, defying all psepologists and statisticians (who by the way have never been correct even within their tolerance range). Looks like this "Jai Ho" song is one lucky charm for its owners. Jai Ho India! Jai Ho!!