What Nitesh Tiwari teaches about brand purpose

My love for advertising is never going to fade away because advertising gave me my first break in creativity. IIT to add films to movies, a little surreal? I mean, does it feel like a long journey? Does it feel like yesterday? Yeah, if you ask me, if you ask Nitesh Tiwari who was 18 years old that you would be doing this when you are 40, in your 40s, I would say surreal for sure.

But yeah, as in life, you know, things evolve and things happen. So at this point of time, not so surreal. But yes, for someone who's that young, it definitely is something which is very surreal. So is advertising still first love? See, the thing is that my love for advertising is never going to fade away because advertising gave me my first break in creativity. When I was completely unsure what I wanted to do. So advertising was probably the only job where there was a security of a regular income.

And no matter how less it was, but the freedom of doing something which is creative. So yes, my first love will always remain advertising. But between 30 seconds and three hours, do you feel a culture shock between the two? Yes, there is a huge difference. There is a huge difference between 30 seconds and two and a half hours. Two and a half hours is far more liberating, to be very honest, far more gratifying as a creative person. Imagine doing a campaign without any brief and imagine when you are not worried about that you have to say it in 45 seconds.

You know, so the kind of freedom which you can get, but at the same time, it's very scary because with great freedom comes great responsibility. So you get an opportunity, you can't mess it up. So that is what with every feature film. So yeah, there are pros and cons both. Tell us, you know, now that you've been a movie maker who's had big hits like mass films, what do you take back to the ad world?

I mean, there must be something you've learned from the massness of Dangal and Chichore and your other films that you've picked up that you can take back to advertising for all the advertising and marketing people listening to you. What is it that they can learn from the success of these movies? Actually, it's the other way around, you know, and again, I'll say it's a two-way cycle. I applied a lot which I learned in advertising in creating Dangal and Chichore both. So and that reflects in the kind of stories which I do.

The most important thing is that I am not creating a movie for myself. I'm not making any movie for myself. I'm making it for somebody who's going to spend money and time to come and watch it. So I better make it for that person to like it. It's not for me to like it. So this is the biggest learning I have had from advertising. We were never creating campaigns for ourselves. We were creating it for somebody to like them and go and buy that product.

And yes, you know, the learning back is that if you take calculated risks, the rewards are going to be far higher for sure, because you're surprising your audience with something which is fundamentally new. You're a writer first. You were a writer in advertising. You're still a writer. Yes. You were a writer before you were a director. Yes. Is it tough to direct what other people write? It's tough to direct what you write. Because as a writer, you already have a lot of expectations from your director.

So the director in you has to do justice to what the expectations are from the writer in you. It's always very tough to direct your own stuff. But that's why I try really hard because I have a lot of other writers who write with me and they are the toughest guys to please. Is the age of superstars over? No, it will never be over. We live in a country where there is a huge superstar culture and that's not going anywhere else. Superstars also are reinventing themselves very, very nicely. very, very nicely. And we've seen it in the past.

A superstar with the power of content is a very, very lethal combination. And it can really have very long legs at the box of us. Abir Khan and Dangal. And Salman Khan, Bajrangi Bhaijai. And many more examples which you have. So yes, a superstar gives you an edge and if you have a superstar with the content which people will lap up to, you are sitting on something which is very big. Are you happy with the state of advertising in India? I have a simple answer to give to that. When I was young doing engineering and the kind of advertising I used to watch.

It made me want to join advertising. I used to look at those ads and say, I wish I was working with these agencies who are creating such fantastic stuff. If I was that kid today, I may not want to come to advertising. It's no longer that inspiring. Where does the motivation come from? Where do the ideas come from? Ideas basically come either from life or brainstorming with my writers or in general, you know, if you come across something which you think can become very interesting. So ideas I think can come from anywhere.

I am very open to ideas like we were in advertising, you know, a great I know the guy who has the idea is the boss. Do they hang around in your head for a long time? Did Dhangal and Chichore sit in your head for a long time before they practice? If it hangs around in my head for a long time, I make it. Okay, so that's the secret. That's the thing. Yeah, if it doesn't leave me, that means there's something in it. Do your children watch your movies? Yes, they do. And do they give you feedback? Yes, they are biased. I would say they love all my work.

So, but yeah, because I feel that they are biased. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.