Television ads for bridal jewellery in India tend to follow the same format: a blushing, light-skinned bride tying the knot with a sumptuously attired bridegroom as the two happy families look on amid finery and pomp.
A new ad for jewellery company Tanishq follows the same formula, but I did a double take after the first few seconds. Something odd was going on. The bride was dark-skinned, not fair and she did not look submissive or virginal.
Even odder, she seemed to have a little daughter who is excitedly participating in the preparations and wants to be involved in the ceremony. Every time the girl wants to participate, her mother tells her to shush.
It is only when the little girl runs up to the bridegroom during the nuptials and asks the bridegroom "Can I call you Daddy now?' that I realise that the ad is portraying a remarriage.
The ad breaks two taboos: The notion that a beautiful bride must be light skinned and that divorced or widowed women should not remarry. As the ad went viral – it was watched on YouTube by 500,000 people in three days – it unleashed an avalanche of praise.
"A dusky bride with a daughter in an ad? Well done Tanishq for breaking stereotypes with grace and power," said one comment. "Indian advertising finally coming of age by projecting modern and progressive ideas," said another.
As far as I know, it is India's first ad to portray remarriage. About time, too. Most advertising companies take the safe option in portraying women as dutiful, docile and obedient, whether as wives, daughters or sisters. Their behaviour is always conventional.
Ad makers happily create commercials showing dark-skinned women as unattractive failures who suddenly become hot after using skin lightening creams. Few commercials tackle stereotypes or question traditional opinions on remarriage or divorce.
Divorce rates in India have doubled in the past five years, but divorced women find it much harder to remarry – because of the usual 'used goods' tag – while divorced men simply ask Mummy and Daddy to arrange another marriage for them.
But as India changes, young men are becoming less dogmatic about not marrying a divorcee. "Women have greater empowerment and greater independence. With this campaign, our wanted to position Tanishq as the wedding jeweller for this modern Indian woman who is re-marrying. That is a reality and we are simply mirroring it," said a company spokeswoman.
Interestingly, the ad was shot by film maker Gauri Shinde, who also brought a gentle feminist perspective to her first feature film, English Vinglish about a traditional housewife who blossoms into her own independent person but also holds on to her rather conventional marriage.
On a lighter note, I also liked the ad for showing a bride who looks gorgeous without being weighed down by tons of grotesquely ornate jewellery. That is the norm for Indian brides – usually forced to resemble Christmas trees.
In this ad, the bride – perhaps because she's been there before and this time around wants to keep the marriage simple – she wears a muted, dull gold outfit which does not light up the night sky like a laser.
Quite an achievement, then – an ad promoting remarriage, the notion that dark can be beautiful and also demolishing the Indian belief that you need lots of bling to look special.
Amrit Dhillon is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi.