My Science School

The girl on the Nirma packaging was actually the daughter of the founder of the company, Karsanbhai Patel. Even the name “Nirma” was derived from her – she was called Nirmala, and had passed away in an accident.

In the 1970s, the Indian washing powder market was dominated by Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) and its Surf was pretty much THE detergent powder to use. While Surf was seen to be a little on the expensive side, people were willing to pay a slight premium for the convenience and consistency it provided. And well, the alternatives were either just as expensive or not really quite as good in terms of quality and performance. That changed with the emergence of a washing power called Nirma in the early seventies.

The ad started out as a relatively short one, but as the years passed, it became slightly longer, going up to a minute. And it almost always followed the same template – it featured a number of people singing, dancing and otherwise being very active at a variety of locations, ranging from a stage to locations like India Gate. These shots are interspersed with clothes being washed (of course, always by women). And then towards the end, the ad focuses on four ladies carrying packets of Nirma powder with them. It begins and closes out with the “Nirma girl,” the brand’s mascot who is seen twirling on the packets of washing powder.

The Washing Powder Nirma jingle is still widely played by people who just like to listen to it. People even sing the song on Smule, a social networking platform. Now, how’s that for being a chartbuster.

 

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Amul girl refers to the advertising mascot used by Amul, an Indian dairy brand. The Amul girl is a hand-drawn cartoon of a young Indian girl dressed in a polka dotted frock with blue hair and a half pony tied up. The Amul girl advertising has often been described as one of the best Indian Advertising concepts because of its humour.

Amul did not always have the round-eyed moppet as its mascot. The Butter Girl was born in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, the then MD of the advertising agency handling Amul butter’s account, created her for its campaign. It was a pleasant change from the dull, corporate ads that the previous agency had come up with. Being a seasoned marketer himself, Dr Kurien gave daCunha complete creative freedom to create and release the ads without taking the company’s permission. 30 years later, the Utterly Butterly Girl still wins hearts wherever she is, whether on a billboard or on the packet of butter.

Amul is not just a brand; it is also a movement that represents farmers’ economic freedom. The name is now a household term that is here to stay, and the chubby-cheeked Amul girl will continue to cast a spell on the public.

 

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On the occasion of IR's 150th year, a mascot in the form of a cartoon elephant, 'Bholu', was adopted. A real elephant was used in some of the celebrations.

Railways were introduced in India on 16 April 1853, with a line from Bombay to Thane. To commemorate the 150th year of the event, Indian Railways planned a series of events in 2002–03 which included launching a mascot. Bholu was designed by the National Institute of Design in consultation with the Railway ministry and was unveiled on 16 April 2002 in Bangalore. On that day, Bholu flagged off the Karnataka Express at 6.25 pm from platform number 1 of the Bangalore city station. According to the Indian Government (Railway Board)'s Manual for Public Relations Department (2007), Bholu was designated for official use effective 15 April 2002. Later, on 24 March 2003, they decided to retain Bholu as the official mascot of Indian Railways.

The mascot became very popular in India. When asked why they chose an elephant as their mascot and of their opinion on Bholu, Indian Railway officials said that Bholu is friendly and helpful. An Indian Government official release in 2003 described Bholu as an "ethical, responsible, sincere and cheerful icon". The same report stated that other than denoting stability, it represents the Indian Railways workforce as well. Also in 2003 the Indian Government released a two-(?) rupee coin which carried the impression of Bholu on its reverse side.

 

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Air India's mascot is the Maharajah (high king). It was created by Bobby Kooka, the then-commercial director of Air India, and Umesh Rao, an artist with J. Walter Thompson Limited in 1946. Kooka stated that, "We call him a Maharajah for want of a better description. But his blood isn't blue. He may look like royalty, but he isn't royal". Air India adopted the Maharajah as its mascot in 1946. It was used in promoting it although initially designed only for the airline's memo-pads. The Maharajah was given a makeover in 2015 and the brand is represented by a younger version.

The airline was founded by J. R. D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932; Tata himself flew its first single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth, carrying air mail from Karachi to Bombay's Juhu aerodrome and later continuing to Madras (currently Chennai). After World War II, it became a public limited company and was renamed as Air India. On 21 February 1960, it took delivery of its first Boeing 707 named Gauri Shankar and became the first Asian airline to induct a jet aircraft in its fleet. In 2000–01, attempts were made to privatise Air India and from 2006 onwards, it suffered losses after its merger with Indian Airlines.

Air India also operates flights to domestic and Asian destinations through its subsidiaries Alliance Air and Air India Express. Air India's mascot is the Maharajah (Emperor) and the logo consists of a flying swan with the wheel of Konark inside it.

 

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A wooden box, a short, straight antenna on the top left and a picture of a chubby toddler with her finger placed near her lips with a quizzical smile – this is what Indian radio memories are made of. And the brand was Murphy Radio, one of the earliest radio brands in Indian homes.

In the 1960s-70s, Indians who had radio sets in their homes often boasted about it. A Murphy Radio set usually occupied pride of place in their homes, especially in their drawing rooms. It would be kept at a higher plane away from children’s reach. Many Indians would actually stitch an embroidered cloth cover for it. Families would play the popular radio programmes on high volume, attracting radio-less neighbours to stand outside and listen.

The brand of home radios was founded in 1929 in England by Frank Murphy and E.J. Power.

The original radio company played a crucial role during World War II, making radio sets for British Armed Forces to use.

Murphy was the first British radio to be fitted with automatic tuning correction with station names on the tuning scale.

Frank Murphy left his own company in 1937 leaving E.J. Power in charge and found another company called FM Radio – Frank Murphy Radio.

 

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MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) is India’s No.1 tyre manufacturing company. It was started in the year 1946 by K M Mammen Mappillai as a small toy balloon unit. In 1964 MRF established an overseas office at Beirut, Lebanon to tap the export market. This was amongst India’s very first efforts on tyre exports. In 1989 the company collaborated with US–based Hasbro International, the world’s largest toy maker and launched Funskool India. In the same year it entered into a pact with Vapocure of Australia to manufacture polyurethane paint formulations and with Pirelli for Muscleflex conveyor and elevator belting.

Currently MRF exports tyres to over 65 countries including America, Europe, Middle East, Japan, and the Pacific region. It presently has overseas offices in Dubai, Vietnam and Australia.

It manufactures its Muscleflex brand of conveyor belting at one of the most advanced state–of–the–art facilities in India. Incorporating the latest manufacturing techniques in processes beginning with mixing, calendaring and the like to manufacturing of the finished products, all of which is in–house, Muscleflex –conveyor belting has gained rapid acceptance in markets worldwide.

It is the most advanced precured retreading system in India. MRF forayed into retreading as far back as 1970. Today, MRF has perfected the art of recured retreading with its extensive knowledge in tyres and rubber.

 

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Mysore Sandal Soap is a brand of soap manufactured by the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), a company owned by the government of Karnataka in India. This soap has been manufactured since 1916, when Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, the king of Mysore, set up the Government Soap Factory in Bangalore. The main motivation for setting up the factory was the excessive sandalwood reserves that the Mysore Kingdom had, which could not be exported to Europe because of the First World War. In 1980, KSDL was incorporated as a company by merging the Government Soap Factory with the sandalwood oil factories at Shimoga and Mysore. Mysore Sandal Soap is the only soap in the world made from 100% pure sandalwood oil. KSDL owns a proprietary geographical indication tag on the soap, which gives it intellectual property rights to use the brand name, to ensure quality, and to prevent piracy and unauthorised use by other manufacturers. In 2006, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian cricketer was selected as the first brand ambassador of the Mysore Sandal Soap.

Recalls an old-time employee, MB Rao, “The company, after the glorious days of the Wadiyars, was on subsistence functioning till it got a Geographical Indicator or GI tag in 2006. From then on, the products, especially Mysore Sandalwood Soap, got a boost and revenues have been going up steadily.”

The makers of Mysore Sandal Soap launched on 4 November 2017, a new basket of soaps with brand name Mysoap in variants of Rose Milk Cream, Jasmine Milk Cream, Orange Lime, Cologne Lavender, and Fruity Floral. Each variety is exclusively packaged depicting ethnic Indian woman in traditional looks. The soap weighs 100 g.

 

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For 47-year-old Dhiman Das, the past 26 years have been spent on protecting brand ‘K C Das’ and a short time in warding off an attempt by Odisha to usurp the legacy of Bengal’s culinary icon – the heavenly dessert Rasgulla, nee Rossogolla.

Both the Rasgulla and K C Das, the Kolkata firm that popularised the sweetmeat around the world by first selling it in cans, are the family heirlooms of Dhiman Das, who comes from the lineage of Nobin Chandra Das, the inventor of Rasgulla, and his son Krishna Chandra Das (K C Das), after whom the company is named.

Dhiman Das, who became a director of K C Das at a young age of 21 in 1993, recalls how he had to crack the whip to prevent the company from going to ruin.

N C Das, who had started the confectionary in Bagbazar in 1866, was a creative person who wanted to serve his customers something unique. It put him on an exploratory path that ended in the unique spongy sweet emerging out of his frying pan.

 

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Wipro is an integrated corporation that offers a diverse range of products, solutions and services in systems, software, consumer care, healthcare, lighting and infrastructure technology. We are driven by our passion for quality and our commitment to customers. This drive has catapulted us among the ten most admired companies in India. Through constant innovation and a people-first attitude, we strive to assume leadership positions in all our businesses in the new millennium.

In 1945, Muhammed Hashim Premji incorporated Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd, based at Amalner, a small town in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. It used to manufacture cooking oil under the brand name Sunflower Vanaspati, and a laundry soap called 787, a byproduct of oil manufacture.

The company was a manufacturer of vegetable and refined oils under the name of Sunflower. Kisan and Camel were the other popular trade names in early days of Wipro. The company was then called Western Indian Vegetable Products.

 

MH Premji passed away in 1966, it was then Azim Premji was forced to return to India from the Stanford University. He took charge of the company and diversified its offerings. The company offered toiletries, soaps, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders then.

 

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Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was founded by Jamshetji Tata and established by Dorabji Tata on 26 August 1907. The first steel ingot was manufactured on 16 February 1912. During the First World War (1914-1918), the company made rapid progress. By 1939, it operated the largest steel plant in the British Empire. The company launched a major modernization and expansion program in 1951. Later, in 1958, the program was upgraded to 2 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) project. By 1970, the company employed around 40,000 people at Jamshedpur, and a further 20,000 in the neighbouring coal mines. In 1971 and 1979, there were unsuccessful attempts to nationalise the company. In 1990, the company began to expand, and established its subsidiary, Tata Inc., in New York. The company changed its name from TISCO to Tata Steel Ltd. in 2005.

 Tata Steel operates in 26 countries with key operations in India, Netherlands and United Kingdom, and employs around 80,500 people. Its largest plant (10 MTPA capacity) is located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. In 2007, Tata Steel acquired the UK-based steel maker Corus. It was ranked 486th in the 2014 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest corporations. It was the seventh most valuable Indian brand of 2013 according to Brand Finance.

 

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Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel (22 October 1903 – 3 June 1994) was the founder of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union in 1946, and later the Amul co-operative movement in Anand, Gujarat, India.

Honesty of purpose and sincerity of his efforts at social service earned him respect of the masses. Tribhuvandas Patel developed the institution which Sardar had made him responsible for. The basic approach adopted by Shri Tribhuvandas Patel was first to establish milk co-operatives in the villages. These co-operatives were literally the “base” of the entire venture.

He insisted that each village co-operative should be open to all milk producers in the village regardless of caste, creed or community. He placed equal emphasis on the principle of ‘one man one vote’ regardless of each member’s social and economic status. He never looked back since then and gave the dairy cooperative movement world recognition with the assistance of Dr. Verghese Kurien, better known as “Father of White Revolution” in India.

 

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Shree Krishna Khaitan made his surname the last name in fans. His vision, courage and innovative spirit made Khaitan a household name in India and even overseas.

Shree Krishna formed Khaitan Electricals Ltd. in 1981. The Company was driven by his belief that if you spoil your reputation, you lose everything. He had given everything to his fans, including his surname and would not allow anything to tarnish that – whether in India or in the export market, where Khaitan was fast becoming a name to reckon with

He was also the Founder Trustee of Seth Chiranjilal Khaitan Trust and Shree Krishna Foundation among others.

Shree Krishna can be rightfully called the father of branded fans in India. He passed away in November, 2012, leaving behind a vast business empire. But his legend endures through his surname which finds pride of place on every Khaitan product.

 

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New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) is a company registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India – the company that owns two prominent news channels – NDTV 24 x 7 in English and NDTV India in Hindi. It is India’s first independent news network, entering the field at a time when the government-run Doordarshan had a monopoly over television content. The company was founded by Dr. Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy in 1988.

The following year NDTV launched 3 more channels NDTV Prime (information and entertainment), NDTV Profit (business news channel) and NDTV Good times (lifestyle channel). In 2018 NDTV started a channel for smartphone users NDTV HOP in cooperation with Airtel, Indian telecom company. 

NDTV has a history of hiring Journalists, reporters, anchors with bureaucratic connections. Some of them are: Vikram Chandra is the son of Yogesh Chandra, a former director general of civil aviation, himself the son-in-law of Govind Narain, a former home and Defense Secretary and former Governor of Karnataka.

 

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Tamil filmmaker M Manikandan’s Kaakkaa Muttai is about aspiration, the food chain and a kind of hunger that is unique to the process of globalisation.

Kaaka Muttai's story revolves around two slum children of Chennai, Tamil Nadu whose desire is to taste a pizza. The film had its world premiere on 5 September 2014 at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival, and was released worldwide on 5 June 2015, and received widespread acclaim for its story and cast performances. It went on to win two National Film Awards at the 2015 ceremony - Best Children's Film and Best Child Artist (Ramesh and Vignesh).

The first look of the project was announced to the media by Padma on 26 January 2014, coinciding with Republic Day, with Dhanush and Vetrimaaran announcing that they would be making a children's film to be directed by M. Manikandan, a former wedding photographer, who had earlier directed the short film, Wind (2010), with music by G V Prakash Kumar. Filming for the project began at the end of May 2013, with the maker suggesting that the film would be complete in one schedule. Silambarasan accepted to make a cameo appearance in the film. He joined the team in September 2013 to film scenes alongside Babu Antony who plays a landlord. Two newcomers, Ramesh and Vignesh, had been selected to play the lead roles along with Iyshwarya Rajesh and Ramesh Thilak. In August 2014, it was reported that the film had been completed four months before.

 

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Keshu is a 2009 Indian Malayalam children's film directed by Sivan. The film won by Best Children's Film award at the 57th National Film Awards. It also won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Children's Film of 2009.

Directed by Sivan, Keshu had Navneeth Krishnan in the lead, and told the tale of a deaf and dumb orphan who lives with his uncle and aunt. It narrates how the naughty, unruly kid develops a friendship with an art teacher, which leads to him finding his true potential in painting.

It was alleged that Sanjeev Sivan, son of director Sivan, was part of the regional jury of the film award and had allegedly recommended his father's film for the award and hence it was illegal and inappropriate to give the award to 'Keshu'. The Kerala High court stayed the presentation of the National award to the film following the complaint. Filmmaker and jury member Harikumar alleged that it was a remake of his 2001 film Pularvettom. The petition was dismissed finally by the Highcourt of Kerala, observing that Santosh Sivan was not part of the regional jury while Keshu was nominated for contesting for the national award.

 

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