MUMBAI, INDIA — India is a land of many tales. Every year, diamond and gold designer Reliance Jewels captures the essence of these tales by crafting an exquisite collection inspired by the culture, art & craft and traditions of India.
The journey started with Utkala, a collection that captured the art heritage of Odisha, followed by Kaasyam, dedicated to the divine land of Banaras. Kaasyam was followed by Rannkaar, inspired by the enchanting land of Kutch. This year, on the occasion of Diwali, Reliance Jewels and creative partner Scarecrow M&C Saatchi pay homage to India’s abode of greatness with Mahalaya – an exquisite jewelry collection inspired by the royal heritage of Maharashtra.
Reliance Jewels’ Mahalaya collection takes inspiration from the lustrous weaves of Paithani to fascinating visuals of Warli, from scenic beauty of hills and valleys to the grandeur of Gads and Wadas in the form of Royal Regalia. Customers get to choose magnificent designs in Gold and Diamond from a variety of intricately designed and artistically crafted jewelry pieces that encapsulate these inspirations. While its designers draw inspirations from different regions, the final collection is designed to suit each and every Indian woman.
Speaking on the campaign and the Mahalaya Collection, Sunil Nayak, CEO of Reliance Jewels, said, “Reliance Jewels has always focused on forging an emotional connection through our designs. Over the years, we have carved a niche for ourselves as we embarked on a journey to celebrate our nation’s rich heritage, art, crafts and culture. We take immense pride in taking inspirations from our rich heritage, arts and crafts of India. We have been launching exemplary collections for the last three years inspired by the rich heritage of India that was well received by all our customers.”
“We are excited to continue this journey with our sixth collection this festive season. Our team of in-house designers and experts explores and celebrates our diverse inheritance through extensive research for months to finalize the inspirations for the collection and then design and craft the finest & exclusive designer jewelry for our esteemed patrons every season. For the upcoming auspicious festive season we are excited to offer ‘Mahalaya,’ our elegantly created ornate collection inspired by the rich culture, diverse heritage and traditions of Maharashtra while continuing our design legacy and wanted to communicate the same through a campaign that’s as grand, as glorious and as graceful as the region itself,” Sunil furthered.
Agency partner Scarecrow M&C Saatchi Founder Director Manish Bhatt added, “This was a maha (biggest) opportunity for Scarecrow in this series of cultural communication for Reliance Jewels because the range was as wide as the Sahyadri; from showcasing the royal arts/hobbies like sword fighting and horse, the opulence of Wadas adorned by lamps and mashals and shields to capturing a painting like the beauty of a Sitar player and the celebratory formations of Warli dancers.”
“Our one-line brief to the Director, Cinematographer, Production designer, Costume stylist, makeup and hair stylist was to cinematically revive the royal paintings of Raja Ravi Verma who has actually captured the grace of Maharashtrian women. We are Maha thrilled that all these things came alive,” Manish concluded.
The inspiration behind Mahalaya
The collection draws its inspiration from the mighty Gads (Forts) & Wadas (Palaces), the lustrous Paithani saree and the immersive Warli paintings. It’s an intricate ensemble of exquisite Gold & Diamond necklaces, pendants, earrings, Mangalsutra’s, rings and bangles.
Before conceptualizing the entire campaign, the design team and the marketing team of Reliance Jewels, along with Team Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, did a lot of research to understand the culture and traditions of Maharashtra. Right from visiting museums to talking to experts from different fields to a cultural recce was conducted.
Celebrating grace and glory
Coined by Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, Mahalaya is derived from Maha which means great and Aalaya which means beauty – defining Maharashtra as an abode beauty of greatness.
The royal heritage of Maharashtra captures not only grace in the form of textile arts like Paithani and paintings of Warli, but also captures the glory through the tales of valor and triumphs of the empire. With this, the entire campaign was conceptualized around the theme celebrating grace and glory as the two main elements.
A song of grace and glory
A lot of research has been done to understand the different music genres and musical instruments of Maharashtra. Right from Patthe Bapurao’s “Shubhamangal Charani,” to genres ranging from Natya Sangeet to Baithakichi lavani, to Gondhal, to Tarpa music of the Warli tribe, was explored. After a lot of discussions and jamming sessions with lyricist Guru Thakur, Composer Aman Pant and Director Mahesh Limaye, the team derived an approach to capture the grace & glory musically.
The Mahalaya song is an amalgamation of these genres and features lyrics in Sanskrit-led language with pure Marathi and pure Hindi vocabulary. The lyrics were penned by Guru Thakur (An Indian poet, playwright, lyricist, and scriptwriter known for writing movies like Aga Bai Arechya, Natrang and Narbachi Wadi and penning lyrics for songs like “Apsara Aali,” “Natrang Ubha,” “Khel Mandala,” “Bai Ga,” and “Malhar Wari,” among others.)
The musicians of Mahalaya
The beautiful raga of Puriya Dhanashree in the Mahalaya song is composed by renowned musician Aman pant known for his contribution to movies like Janhit Mein Jari, Chup, and Good Luck Jerry, among others. The song is sung by renowned singer Shubha Joshi, Aarya Ambekar, and Vishwajeet Borwankar.
The ensemble of musicians consisted of artists like Sitar by maestro Purbayan Chatterjee, Swarmandal by Pandit Uma Shankar Shukla, Rhythms by Aadesh More, Prasad Mayekar and Jayant Patnaik, Tarpa by Chandrakant Chaudhary and Santoor by Satyendra Singh Solanki.
The campaign
The campaign for Reliance Jewels conceptualized by Scarecrow M&C Saatchi tells the story of two young girls – a director seeking advice from her fashion designer friend for the costumes of her upcoming war drama. The film beautifully captures the royal heritage of Maharashtra through a cinematic journey.
The makers of Malahaya
To give the film a magnum opus period film-like cinematic experience, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi roped in Mahesh Limaye who has captured grandeur in films like Bajirao Mastani & Padmavat.
The campaign also consists of print ads shot by Umesh Aher, a renowned photographer who has worked on fashion brands like Jack & Jones, Ajio, Dream 11 to celebrities like Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Virat Kohli, among others. The campaign also features a product shoot which was shot by a famous photographer duo Jeetu Kapadia and Kinnari Sanghavi (Jeetu & Kinnari)
It also consists of print, innovative outdoor, digital activation and media innovations planned around the launch. Even the Mahalaya logo is derived from various elements inspired by the motifs and silhouettes found in the inspirations.
CREDITS:
Agency: Scarecrow M&C Saatchi
Creative Team: Manish Bhatt, Raghu Bhat, Kapil Tammal, Kunal Parkar, Lalit Sakurkar, Yuvraj Gorule, Rohit Khedkar, Krupa Mehta, Kalpita Powale, Antara Shinde, Tanvi Deorukhakar, Yamini Rehal, Aashlesha Parab, Mansi Patil, Samruddhi Mahajan, Simran Tandon, Divya Raviraj, Shreya Kshirsagar, Prachiti Borate, Sushmita More, Sakshi Udhwani, Akshita Ghildiyal
Account Management: Mangesh Mulajkar, Namita Gupta, Saransh Pandey, Nikhil Sawant
Studio: Subhash Gade, Mangesh Kasekar, Vikram Dalvi, Sandesh Rane
Reliance Jewels Sunil Nayak, Priyanka Thapa, Rohan Patankar, Tanishka Sharma, Shaswat Doctor, Abhishek Ranjan, Shribandhu Gupta and Shilpa Ullattuthodiyil
Film Production of Mahalaya:
Production House: Lee Pictures
Director & Cinematographer: Mahesh Limaye
Executive Producer: Jitendra Kulkarni
Producer: Omkar Hardikar
Production Designer: Manas Sahu
Costume stylist: Aasia Abbas
Hair & Makeup stylist: Danica Drego & Jyoti Nikam
Editor: Naresh Malap
Colourist: Miten Udeshi
Online editor: Sagar Kadam & Hardik Joshi
Voiceover: Manasi Scott
Casting: Shantanu Bhake
Actors: Ayesha Kanga & Pragati Shrivastava
Assistant Cinematographer: Rohan Madkaikar
Assistant Director: Manasi Attarde
Director’s Assistant: Abhishek Wadodkar
Line Producer (Phaltan): Baba Suryavanshi
Local Line Production: Rohit Majumdar, Chandrakant Jedhe, Santosh Kamble, Farooq Modi, Yogesh Dhumal
Production Manager: Rajesh Nagore
Assistant Production Manager: Sachin Kamble
Art Team: Madan Lal Kapoor, Kirti Nandan, Sachin Yarolkar
Costume Team: Pratiksha Shetty & Shersingh Soman
Focus Puller: Pramod Pradhan
Gaffer: Abul Basar Shaikh
Post Producer: Abhishek Pawar
Post-production houses: Sally’s studio, CH4 studios, Prime Focus
Accountants: Deepa Bal
Storyboard: Deelip Khomane & Kashish Sharma
Locations: Scarecrow M&C Saatchi and Phaltan
Music Production of Mahalaya
Lyricist: Guru Thakur
Music composer: Aman Pant
Programmer: Sparsh Agarwal
Lead singers: Shubha Joshi, Aarya Ambekar, Vishwajeet Borwankar
Chorus Singers: Nihar Shembekar, Amruta Natu
Padhant bol: Mitali Vinchurkar, Moushumi, Jayant Patnaik
Sound Engineer:
Mixing Engineer: Vijay Dayal (YRF Studio)
Pre-Mix Engineer: Bashab Bhattacharjee
Sound Design: Sandeep Madkholkar
Recorded by: Vishal Shinde (Chirping Birds Studios), Aishvary Pimple (Chirping Birds Studios), Rahul Sharma (Studio 504)
Musicians: Purbayan Chatterjee (Sitar), Pandit Uma Shankar Shukla (Swarmandal), Satyendra Singh Solanki (Santoor), Chandrakant Chaudhary (Tarpa), Aadesh More (Rhythmist), Prasad Mayekar (Rhythmist), Jayant Patnaik (Rhythmist)
Recording studios:
Chirping Birds Studios
Studio 504
Sound IdeaZ
Mixing Studio: YRF Studio
Print Production of Mahalaya
Model Shoot:
Photographer: Umesh Aher
Production House: Yogesh Wadkar Productions
Costume stylist: Divyak D’Souza
Hair & makeup stylist: Kumar Venkatesh Iyer
Production designer: Sandesh Kambli
Producer: Yogesh Wadkar
Models: Heer Achhra & Krishita Shetty
Product Shoot:
Photographer: Jeetu Kapadia & Kinnari Sanghavi (Jeetu & Kinnari)
Image Retouching: Sachin Misal
Product styled by: Kinnari Sanghavi
