The first shot in the thought-provoking ad is set in the calm of the Dal Lake. A Kashmiri houseboat and a shikara are shown floating on its still surface. The sound of morning prayers filters through the mist.

The strings of the santoor, they seem tuned to raag Vasant Mukhari (it's a morning raag, the context has a deep meaning).



Before ace santoor artiste Rahul Sharma, who is the star featured in the ad, hits the strings with mallets made of walnut wood, the tea is poured. Sharma is about to begin the morning riyaz (practice) when a young boy on the shikara approaches him.



He asks Sharma, "Ise kaise bajaate hain (how do we play it?)".



The boy's question is loaded with meaning, hope and positivity, just as this advertisement is. Sharma chuckles a bit. And he starts playing the santoor. The sound of santoor reaches men, women and children.



They navigate their shikaras faster, towards the source of music, from all directions.



Among them is a man who is carrying the Kashmiri rabab on his shikara. He catches up with the composition on the rabab.



When Sharma opens his eyes after finishing the composition, he sees rows and rows of shikaras for his audience. It's a floating concert.



The young boy shouts ecstatically, "Wah, ustad, wah!" The context and backdrop become even more important four years after this ad was made.



The abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 could possibly usher in a positive change in Kashmir --- making the Kashmiri people, especially the youth, draw closer to their own music, musical instruments and culture.



This ad is a good representative of change.



Santoor has a wide history that also spreads on the world map, mainly to the west of Kashmir. To the Indian classical music scenario, it came from Kashmir.



Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, who is credited for popularising it, was born in Jammu. He has collaborated with artistes from Kashmir, Iran and several other Islamic countries in his sprawling journey in music. So has his son and disciple, Rahul Sharma.



This advertisement featuring Sharma, in a way, turns us to a tradition lost and found.



This particular ad series has its own legacy of involving Hindustani classical music and related artistes, mostly the popular ones.



Back in the 1980s, Ustad Zakir Hussain was featured in it with Aditya Kalyanpur, a tabla artiste who was a young boy then.



The year this ad became popular, it found itself running between public service broadcast messages on communal harmony --- a couple of them featuring top actors from Hindi and non-Hindi film industry.



Hussain sahab is a star in his own right. And naturally, "Wah Taj" secured its own place in our hearts.



The identities and roles of musicians and people cast in these ads were never really seen in the prism of religion --- as music isn't --- largely. Hindustani music in particular.

The Different Standards For 'Aam' And 'Khaas'



Fine music and finer tea are for the elite --- this perception has stayed firmly in our cultural narrative. The ‘aam aadmi’ feels that something 'khaas', like this beautiful advertisement, is not for him. It is unlikely that the positive advertisement on Kashmir has reached an audience wider than the ad built around Ganesh Chaturthi.



Why is there a stark difference in the standards and messaging of advertisements of the same commodity (and the same house) for people who consume it?



Does it point to a class divide in ad making?



The Hindu aam aadmi would easily connect with the Rahul Sharma ad. Identifying with Sharma's creative courage even without knowing what the santoor is. Yet, he is offered the less finer advertisement, that too on his festival.

Risking pleasantness in creativity for making waves in the market also indicates that one community is easy to target on festivals and naturally, then, is easy to offend.

Look up some popular Pakistani ads featuring some of the popular fast-selling products and brands. You will step upon oodles of natural delight lighting up a big and united happy family of folks.



There is no room for and need for addressing the cultural and communal bumps, blip, blunders in that society. Everything seems perfect there.

The festival of stereotyping and tutoring Hindus on an ingrained value system must end.

Hindus keep this nation glued together with some help from other communities, just as Rahul Sharma keeps the people on the shikaras on the Dal Lake, with his heritage.

Makers of advertisements targeting Hindus on their festivals must remember that. As for Hindus, they must shun the repeated appropriation of their festivals and deities.

This can be done when they count positive messaging of Hindu values in advertisements as a cultural plus point.