When Squirrels Sang Bollywood: The Kit Kat Campaign That Changed Indian Advertising

August 2010. In advertising agencies across India, creative teams were wrestling with a familiar challenge: how do you make a chocolate break feel magical? For Nestlé Kit Kat, JWT Delhi had a proposition that seemed simple—"Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat"—but the execution needed to be anything but ordinary. What emerged would become one of India's most beloved and technically ambitious advertisements: singing squirrels serenading each other with Bollywood romance in a public park.

The Genesis of an Outlandish Idea

The film features two guys sitting in a park; while one is working on his laptop, the other decides to take a break and munches on a Kit Kat. During the break, he witnesses a male squirrel serenading his female love with a Bollywood song. It was an idea that sounded absurd on paper—animated squirrels performing Bollywood dance moves—but that absurdity was precisely the point.

Anuja Chauhan, executive creative director and vice-president at JWT Delhi, was the copywriter behind this TVC. She was known for her sharp wit and cultural intelligence, having previously created memorable campaigns that blended Indian sensibilities with universal emotions. For Kit Kat, she crafted something that would become a watershed moment in Indian advertising's use of animation.

The film was directed by Shyam Madiraju through production house Gobsmack Films, with post-production handled by Radium, LA.

The Story That Captured Hearts

The TVC begins with a visual of two young men sitting in a park. One of them is involved in his work, completely engrossed in his laptop and headphones, whereas the other pops open a Kit Kat. The setup was deliberately contemporary—young people so absorbed in technology that they miss the world around them.

When the guy decides to break the Kit Kat chocolate, he sees a male squirrel finding its food and tries to eat without giving it to his girlfriend squirrel. The girlfriend squirrel gets angry with the boy squirrel's attitude. To console her, the boy squirrel sings the hit Bollywood song "Kaate Nahi Katate Ye Din Ye Raat" from the film Mr. India.

The song choice was brilliant. "Kaate Nahi Katate"—a romantic Bollywood classic about how time doesn't pass when you're away from your loved one—became the squirrel's serenade. The squirrel performs some pretty raunchy dance moves while singing, mimicking the theatrical style of Bollywood romance.

However, when the guy tries to show his friend the scene, the friend is unable to see what he sees. The friend is clearly not interested and even expresses a hint of annoyance. This created the central question: was it real, or was it a break-induced hallucination?

The film ends with a voiceover that states: "Mana ki life bahut busy hai, par kabhi kahi break lo, Kit Kat khao, zindagi aapko shayad kuch haseen dikhade" (Life may be very busy, but take a break somewhere, eat Kit Kat, life might show you something beautiful).

The film concludes with the squirrel humming, "Kit Kat break banta hai" (Take a Kit Kat break).

The Technical Marvel

What made this campaign particularly remarkable was its technical execution. This was the first time that Kit Kat used animated characters central to the storyline in an Indian advertisement. While Kit Kat had used computer graphics internationally, featuring animated animals like pandas, this marked a significant milestone for the brand in India.

A note from JWT Delhi explained the complex process: It began by studying various Bollywood moves which would look natural with the squirrel's body structure. The picture edits were established with dummy squirrels while the squirrels in the final TVC were created through CGI (computer-generated images).

Since the squirrels also had to lip-sync to a song, the animated body moves and the lip movements were then locked in. Most of the work was done in separate teams, and once all the animation and texturing were completed, the colours and textures of each shot were matched—a necessary measure as the weather was alternating between bright sunshine and dark and cloudy on the day the movements with the dummy were shot.

The audio engineering was equally challenging. In order to get the squirrel singing tone right, significant engineering on the audio front was done. Music composer and arranger Amar Mangrulkar recreated the track and also sang the tune. Creating a voice that sounded like it could come from a lovesick squirrel while maintaining the melody of a Bollywood classic required both technical skill and creative courage.

The Philosophy Behind the Break

B Kannan, general manager of chocolates and confectionery at Nestlé India, explained: "The new TVC is also a creative leap and brings in a fresh, emotional approach that focuses not on the brand, but the benefit."

This distinction was crucial. The campaign wasn't about chocolate's taste or texture. It was about what happens when you pause from relentless productivity. Kannan elaborated: "Our lifestyles keep us stressed and we miss seeing even the obvious. But Kit Kat breaks are good for you because they help you connect with yourself and your surroundings, and you are able to look beyond the obvious to find new meanings."

The brand has always targeted the youth, and the present campaign was particularly targeted at youngsters constantly swamped with technology, gadgets and busy schedules. In 2010, as smartphones were becoming ubiquitous and always-on culture was intensifying, Kit Kat's message about disconnecting—even briefly—felt prescient.

The Cultural Context

The 'Have a break, have a Kit Kat' tagline got a 'desi' twist a few years prior, when the brand rolled out its 'Kit Kat break toh banta hai' communication. This Indianization of the global tagline showed Nestlé's understanding that the break concept needed local cultural resonance.

The use of the Bollywood song "Kaate Nahi Katate" was particularly savvy. Every Indian who grew up in the 1980s and '90s knew this song. By putting it in a squirrel's mouth, the campaign created what advertising calls "borrowed interest"—leveraging existing cultural affection to build brand warmth.

Some observers noted similarities to Cadbury 5 Star's campaign, which also featured people entering fantasy worlds after consuming the product. When this was brought to Anuja Chauhan's notice, she countered: "The 5 Star ad was about getting out of the real world and going into a fantasy world; the Kit Kat ad tells you to get out of your busy, gadget-laden world and get into the real world for a change!"

This distinction mattered. The squirrels weren't escapist fantasy—they were nature, real life happening right in front of us that we miss when we're buried in screens. Whether they were "really" singing or whether the Kit Kat break allowed the protagonist to perceive beauty that was always there remained ambiguous and intriguing.

The Phenomenal Response

The TVC that hit screens garnered a huge fan base of over 40,000 viewers on YouTube within days. Basking on this success, the company rolled out the campaign across different touch-points in digital and social media.

Joy Chauhan, executive business director at JWT, later reflected: "The squirrel commercial was a great success and the need was to build further on the brand promise." The campaign's success led to sequels featuring other animals—lovebirds in a classroom and dancing babies—all following the same formula of animation revealing delightful moments during Kit Kat breaks.

Industry professionals praised the creative courage. The outlandish premise, the commitment to high-quality CGI, the use of a beloved Bollywood song, and the emotional core about rediscovering wonder—all combined to create something memorable. Though some later critiqued the sequels as formulaic, the original squirrel commercial retained its status as a creative landmark.

Five Lessons From the Singing Squirrels

1. Absurdity Can Be Strategic

Singing, dancing squirrels performing Bollywood romance sounds ridiculous—and that's exactly why it worked. In a cluttered advertising landscape, the campaign's outrageousness ensured it couldn't be ignored. The lesson: sometimes the most memorable creative ideas are those that initially sound too crazy to execute. Don't let conventional thinking kill outlandish concepts before exploring whether that absurdity serves the brand message.

2. Technical Excellence Enables Creative Ambition

The campaign succeeded because JWT and the production team didn't compromise on execution quality. The CGI was sophisticated, the lip-syncing was precise, the audio engineering was meticulous. The lesson: big creative ideas require investment in excellent execution. Half-hearted technical work would have made the squirrels look cheap rather than charming, undermining the entire message.

3. Cultural Borrowing Creates Instant Connection

Using "Kaate Nahi Katate," a song embedded in Indian cultural memory, gave the campaign immediate emotional resonance. Audiences felt warmth toward the squirrel not just because of what it was doing, but because of the cultural touchstone it referenced. The lesson: leveraging existing cultural assets—songs, films, phrases, moments—can create instant affinity if done respectfully and creatively.

4. Ambiguity Invites Engagement

The campaign never definitively answers whether the squirrels were real or imagined. This ambiguity invited viewers to debate, discuss, and engage with the ad beyond passive viewing. The lesson: not every question needs an answer. Strategic ambiguity can make campaigns more memorable by requiring mental participation from audiences, transforming them from passive consumers to active interpreters.

5. Focus on Benefit, Not Brand

B Kannan's statement that the campaign focused "not on the brand, but the benefit" revealed sophisticated marketing thinking. The ad wasn't about chocolate; it was about reclaiming wonder in daily life. The lesson: the strongest brand building often comes from championing benefits and values rather than shouting about product attributes. When you sell the experience rather than the item, you create deeper emotional connections.

The Legacy

The squirrel campaign became a template for Kit Kat's Indian advertising for years, spawning sequels and establishing a recognizable format. More importantly, it demonstrated that Indian advertising could handle technically complex animation while maintaining cultural authenticity and emotional resonance.

For a generation of young Indians, "Kit Kat break banta hai" became synonymous with permission to pause—a small rebellion against hustle culture. And whenever they saw squirrels in parks, they might wonder, just for a moment, if romance was unfolding in ways only a break could reveal.

In the end, the campaign succeeded because it honored a simple truth: the world is full of beauty and absurdity, but we miss it when we're too busy to look up. Sometimes all it takes is a chocolate break and a willingness to see magic—even if that magic comes in the form of a lovesick squirrel singing Bollywood classics in a public park.