But the director himself wasn’t present at the premiere and press show of the film. Priyan was on a secret mission at his favourite location, Pollachi. He was shooting for the Oscar winner AR Rahman’s foot-tapping music score Jai Ho..., which will be the signature tune of the Congress party’s 2009 election campaign.
Aiming to spice up its election campaign, the Congress party bought the rights of Jai Ho and Priyadarshan was chosen to shoot the video as his film Billu impressed the Congress election strategists. Priyadarshan is known for his brand of filmmaking in which the greenery of Pollachi is highlighted. Healthy white bullocks in the foreground, a swing on which Shah Rukh Khan sat and a top angle shot of the village, everything was colour coordinated to perfection. Sabu Cyril, the art director and Priyan’s close buddy, gave the south Indian location a rich look. However, when contacted, Priyadarshan preferred to remain silent on this project.
According to sources close to the director, Priyadarshan flew to Delhi, met the Congress election campaign managers, Anand Sharma and Jairam Ramesh and worked out the theme of the 30 second to 10 minute campaign spots. The Congress campaign speaks of the party’s heritage and achievements and focuses on key Congress leaders and former prime ministers and is targeted at village folk. The party banks heavily on the Aam Admi. The slogan ‘Aam admi ke badte kadam, har kadam par Bharat bulund’, is the Congress’ theme around which the film was shot with over 1000 junior artists from around the country, to give it an Indian look.
