A San Francisco conversation, Bollywood and the power of stories.
Life has moved on from when Uber conversations used to be a thing. Now many drivers and passengers leave each other alone too. Last evening, however, was different.
My Lyft driver turned out to be an Afghani who has spent over six years in India, studying in Pune and Mysore. The best part was when he started speaking Hindi, and told me he was eagerly waiting for the next Aamir Khan movie. Sensing that I didn’t have a clue, he exclaimed with surprise ‘Thugs of Hindostan! With Bacchhan saab?’
Imagine discovering this on the streets of San Francisco, enroute to a work-dinner, from someone who’s not even from India. And this further led to discussions on how Bollywood movies are popular not only in Afghanistan but also across immigrant communities in various Middle-east countries.
As I mulled over the conversation later, I was struck by how much a simple incident like this reveals.
First is of course the tremendous power of Bollywood and what that reflects. That when you share your culture (even if it’s a highly packaged version) with the world, it opens up strong avenues of connections and conversations. The passion with which my Afghan acquaintance loves Bollywood movies - now that’s not the love for a product, it’s the love for an experience. It’s love for how Indian movies make him feel. That is the real power of a brand.
Second that we live in a immensely connected world where the phrase ‘it’s a small world’ takes on a whole new significance. You need to be open to conversations because insights are possibly going to come in from very unexpected and unpredictable sources.
Third, as a story-teller, one cannot help but acknowledge the power of stories and the role of conversations in creating these stories. My conversation with the driver is what brought out the whole power of the Bollywood narrative in a memorable way. It is after all a far better anecdote about the influence of Bollywood than any 200-Cr-Club index.
But most importantly, this was a great reminder of a mantra that powers a lot of my work. If you want to understand a brand, don’t read reports and data on it - talk to people who experience it. Be it employees or customers or audiences. And speak to as many people as you can.
Because what they ‘feel’ - that and only that, is the brand.