Gurinder Chadha’s first commercial that she directed for the Gibson Guitar, named “Only a Gibson is Good Enough” Empress Commercial is creating a buzz throughout the United States. The commercial has Kings Courtroom as the backdrop.

In the commercial, an empress (played by Natasha Mago) attempts to please the emperor (Sumanto Chattopadhyay) with several gifts - his painted portrait, a vintage car, and even jewels. But the emperor looks disinterested, until he hears the strains of a Gibson guitar played by a rock star (Mithun Poojari of the Mumbai-based rock group Pindrop Violence). The empress then takes the guitar from the stunned rock star and presents it to her emperor.

Chadha was asked by Tom Korsan, who runs the Los Angles-based production house Great Guns USA and since he had seen Bride and Prejudice, he thought Chadha would work wonders for the Gibson ad. Chadha was free; she really liked it and said yes. She also knew that she would be able to bring more production value to it, as she knew people in India. Korsan, his team and Chadha then travelled to Mumbai. The commercial was shot at Nitin Desai’s studio near Khandala over two days.

To give the real feel for Bollywood-style opulence, the commercial features 90 extras, dressed in colorful costumes, dancing girls, fire-eating men, an elephant, ornate thrones, one fountain, and three crystal chandeliers. And Chadha also cast Bollywood character actor Raj Zutshi from ‘Lagaan’ as the court official.

“A Long two days but it was mostly fun. I’m comfortable with shooting in India and I work with a great team there. I know Raj Zutshi, of course, but the rest of the actors were cast in auditions in Mumbai,” Chadha said.

The commercial has made a good fan following for the Mumbai guitarist (Mithun Poojari) in US, thanks to his appearance in it. Gurinder made a star out of Keira Knightley, now there is lot of buzz around the guy. Gibson has been flooded with calls and emails from people wanting to know who this guitarist is and where they can buy his CD.

“I auditioned him in Mumbai, but had no idea what an impact he would have on US rock fans,” Chadha says. “So I may have created another star. The best thing is, Mithun knows nothing about it yet,” she adds.

Gibson is really pushing this ad for Valentine’s Day. The message is if a diamond is a girl’s best friend, what a guy really wants is a good guitar. The ad is for Gibson’s Les Paul range, probably the best-known guitar in the world.