Star Sports raises the game, ahead of Hockey India League

Hockey India League starts on 14 January and will be aired on Star Sports. Building momentum, Star Sports has released three films across the Star India bouquet. 

Conceived the McCann Worldgroup, India, the films deliver one key message: Baatein kam, khel zyaada (Less talk, more sport).

The films highlight how hockey as a sport helps an individual learn to answer difficult questions, walk the talk, and show the opponent that he doesn't stand a chance. Each of the three films projects one Indian hockey player at the end - Sandeep Singh, SV Sunil and Sardar Singh.

The last frame fades in with the voice over - Lado toh aise (This is the way to fight). 

Watch the other two films here (Story continues below):

Abhinav Tripathi, senior creative director, McCann Worldgroup India, said, "The brief was to project hockey as a sexy sport. A lot of people follow the game but it somewhere lags behind in pulling people; in getting them excited about watching the sport. Our task was to bring out the real elements of the game and tie them with a social contest." 

Each film showcases hockey techniques, while the script draws parallels between life and the sport. The films underline how hockey can teach one about combating battles in real life.

The script was jointly written by Prasoon Joshi, chairman and chief executive officer, McCann Worldgroup, South East Asia, and Tripathi. 

The campaign will run on air for about three weeks. Print and outdoor legs are in the offing.

Unplugged moments

Tripathi and Denzil Machado (creative director, McCann) revealed anecdotes from the 12-hour shoot at Mahindra Stadium, Mumbai.

Tripathi and Machado: "We had a stringent deadline and had to deliver on time. While the films were being shot, we were sitting on the sets and still modifying the scripts. Hats off to the production team (Kiss Films) for pulling this off." The duo seemed happier to have worked with sportsmen rather than celebrities, and mentioned that a sound planning team helped in making their last minute-job more effective. The post-production took two days.

Credits: 

Client: Star Sports
Agency: McCann Worldgroup India
Creative: Prasoon Joshi, Abhinav Tripathi, Denzil Machado
Business: Loveleen Raina, Dhanwinder Singh
Production house: Kissfilms
Director: Nick Livesey
Director of photography: Sejal Shah
Films: Vrushali
Editor: Jay Chandran
Voice-over: Ninad Kamat
Post production: Srikanth Iyer, Maulik Sharma
Post production studio: Avitel
Music: Rajiiv Bhalla