Stable: Meet the Mehras

Meet the Mehras: Manku, his father Sanjeev and his mother Meera. Three films, each set in a household situation most Indian families will recognise, give each Stable product a story of its own: an everyday observation, pushed until it is funny.

We never wanted the product at the centre of the frame. The idea was to show how it could slip into people’s lives without asking for attention. Three products, three stories and one slightly chaotic Indian family.

Stable is a brand we invented. Its identity and packaging have a page of their own.

The family

Each character was drawn up in full, front, side and close-up, so that three films could share one household. Sanjeev needed two versions, one for each chapter of his story.

Stable Original

The inspiration

Creative work and caffeine have a complicated relationship. We have spent plenty of long days and nights on projects, some of them on far more caffeine than anyone should have: there have been days when we reached 500 to 600 mg.

That got us thinking about an alternative to coffee, something that could become part of the ritual of sitting down, concentrating and disappearing into the work. That observation became Stable Original.

The idea

Manku takes a sip of Stable Original and locks into his work. Day turns into night. Night turns into another day. Manku keeps working, until he has been at it so long that he has grown a beard.

The beard is a deliberately exaggerated prop, and it is the punchline: the passing of time, turned into one visual joke.

The creative decision

We chose not to pan to the can for a conventional product reveal. The camera stays on Manku and his MacBook, and the can simply sits on the table beside him. We wanted the product to feel like part of his routine, not something demanding attention. The film is about getting absorbed in work, and the product belongs in that world.

Stable Water

The inspiration

One of us has a retired father and uncle who, if enthusiasm for food were a profession, would both be exceptionally qualified. Kachoris, jalebis, Amritsari kulchas: anything worth eating gets their full attention. Every Sunday, a trip to Bille Di Hatti in Delhi for Amritsari kulchas is practically a family ritual.

Watching them enjoy their food, and watching how their wives react to their eating habits, gave us Stable Water. We started wondering what would happen if a product could fit into someone’s routine without them having to change a single habit.

The idea

Sanjeev Mehra loves his food. His wife, Meera, would like him to lose some weight and take his health more seriously. Sanjeev has no intention of giving up his kachoris and jalebis.

So Meera takes matters into her own hands. Instead of ordinary water, she starts serving him Stable Water, and Sanjeev carries on with his life, completely unaware of the change. The film plays with a product so like water that it slips into an existing habit and nobody questions it.

The creative thinking

The humour comes from a dynamic every Indian family knows: a wife worried about her husband’s health, and a husband far more interested in his next meal. Rather than explain the product, we made the film about two people with conflicting priorities. The product becomes part of the joke without taking it over.

Sanjeev’s change of habits belongs to the story. Stable Water is an electrolyte water with konjac fibre, and the brand makes no weight-loss claim.

Stable Protein

The inspiration

There is something about Indian fathers and protein supplements. For some of them, protein powder might as well be a forbidden substance.

One of us has a father who was no exception, so one day they made him a dessert with Avvatar’s Malai Kulfi protein powder. He was surprised. Usually it is his eating habits that get questioned, and here was a dessert with no lecture attached. He enjoyed it.

What stayed with us was how completely his reaction changed once protein arrived as something familiar and enjoyable. That became the third film.

The idea

Sanjeev Mehra is fit now, and something of a fitness enthusiast. One old belief remains: he is deeply suspicious of protein supplements.

Stable Protein takes that on with a clear, flavourless protein drink that looks like ordinary water: 25 g of protein in a 330 ml can. The comedy comes from the contradiction between Sanjeev’s enthusiasm for fitness and his resistance to anything that looks like a protein shake.

The creative thinking

We wanted to explore how the way a product is presented changes the way people see it. Sometimes the barrier is not the product itself but everything people associate with it. Stable Protein turns that observation into the next chapter of Sanjeev’s story.