Coke ASEAN – Aae Dil hain Canteen

This July we flew down to Thailand to shoot a Coca Cola commercial. It was a unique project in all aspects and a first for many of us in the crew – An Indian director shooting a TV commercial for an international market (South East Asia) with international clients and talent.

The shoot itself posed no particular challenges although we did have to wrap up day 1 earlier than scheduled due to an unexpected thunderstorm which oddly occurred only in the area where we were shooting. Although we were shooting indoors, we lost all natural light coming in from the windows. Just goes to show inclement weather and film shoots go hand in hand.

Another area of concern was the cultural and religious sensitivities of the region we had to keep in mind while executing this spot. For e.g. the wardrobe could not include exposed arms and knees.
While post production was done in Mumbai, we had to dub regional ASEAN languages simultaneously in 3 different countries.

Overall, I have to say that Thailand is a very shoot friendly country with a lot of Indian production companies heading there time and time again.