This is the latest Nokia ad featuring SRK that will hit the TV screens soon. When I heard about the new advt, I asked the Nokia team if they can pass on the video to me. It was a 5 MB video and never made it past their email system. The logical thing was to have it uploaded onto YouTube.

I was under the impression that most promos/video are typically kept under wraps until it hits the TV or the big screen and so it was a pleasant surprise when they let me have the video. It’s a sure shot sigh that the big companies are waking up the power of blogs and social media.

The video was shot by Pradeep Sarkar, the director of Parineeta and the new Rani Mukherjee starrer, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

I was able to get some interesting tid bits about this video. Shah Rukh Khan agreed to devote 8 hours for the shoot amongst his schedule and that’s all the luxury that the ad team had to play with. In order to maximize the usage of the 8 hours, simultaneous sets were erected in the same studio at Mumbai.

The script required 7 sets to be built. If you see the ad, there’s a different set of almost all major scenes (living room, the baby room, railway station, Hotel promenade, Red carpet premiere, Discotheque and the Balcony with the city skyline view). Apparently many production houses refused to take up this shooting contract because they felt 8 hours was too short a time to shoot the entire ad. Pradeep Sarkar was one of the few ones to take up the challenge and that’s how he got to make it.

The team started with the sets since mid-November and the actual ad was shot last week. The shoot started at 3:00 PM and closed around 11 in the night. SRK was having a temperature and wasn’t keeping too well but you never get to see that on the ad.

I’m told that SRK has been a Nokia phone user for the last 10 years (his current phone is a E90) and that was the one of the major reasons why he agreed to do the ad. The other factor, I’m guessing, would be the money!