SLICE OF LIFE
V
inci Raj, the man behind the viral ‘Kabali’ posters, is a hardcore Rajini fan. Working in a Rajinikanth film was Vinci’s dream come true. A Bachelor’s in Computer Applications, he went on to do an MBA, but soon decided his interest lay in the creative field. He took on a second Master’s, this time in Digital Communication, and began his career in advertising. Vinci has worked with several popular brands and has helmed numerous awareness campaigns. He won the Cannes Lions 2010 award for the ‘Talk Them Dead’ campaign for the Karnataka Traffic Police and the Spike Asia 2014 award for the short film The Good Road about the importance of wearing a helmet. Vinci got his first break in the movie industry through Attakathi. Vinci Raj then went on to design posters for Soodhu Kavvum, Mundasupatti, Thegidi and Indru Netru Naalai. Rajinikanth movies are always much awaited. Vinci’s posters do not disappoint either. In fact, the official movie poster that Vinci designed stormed social media, going viral almost instantly. The posters could have been designed only by a diehard Rajini fan. Creative Brands caught up with Vinci recently for an exclusive chat.
EXCERPTS: How did you come up with ‘Guilt’? I had noticed that after drinking sessions, people would always ask each other to call them and let them know that they had reached home safely. But mostly no one would bother to really find out if they have or had... Most people would be okay with the fact that they had ‘asked’ and had fulfilled their responsibility. The responsibility,
though, is to actually get your friend home — safe. Now, if something were to happen to a friend after a drinking session with you, and even if you were to take the blame on yourself for not being responsible enough, will the law question you? You can escape that, even if you don’t want to, but what about the guilt? Your punishment will be the guilt that will keep nagging you, haunting your conscience.
We have to understand that our lifestyle is such that we end up partying and we end up drinking. Bars will not close and government will not restrict the sale of alcohol. But the end doesn’t have to be a disaster. We can propose a solution. Too many ads have focused on the problem of drunken-driving. I wanted to propose a solution — to call a cab after a drinking session...
Creative Brands
37
July /Aug 2017
We have to understand that our lifestyle is such that we end up partying and we end up drinking. Bars will not close and government will not restrict the sale of alcohol. But the end doesn’t have to be a disaster. We can propose a solution. Too many ads have focused on the problem of drunken-driving. I wanted to propose a solution — to call a cab after a drinking session. I wanted the ad to strike people hard. It had to be relatable enough to make them think. And act. A very close friend of mine had lost his life in a road accident, so ‘Guilt’ was something that I really wanted to bring to life. What were your favourite projects at the Cannes Venture? I would say one of them was ‘The Good Road’ campaign. It’s something powerful — something that I am very proud of. To put a full stop to unsafe riding something like this was required. That you just cannot ride your bike without your helmet. Young