Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea's Chai Bansuri turns tea steam into live flute music

Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea wraps its identity in Indian classical music, but that heritage normally surfaces only in films and print. The challenge was to make the tradition physically present — to turn the everyday moment a kettle boils into a live musical event people could watch, hear and share.

Build a giant tea kettle whose steam plays a live flute, performing Raag Hamsadhwani with mechanized fingers.

Ogilvy India and Mindshare built a 500-litre tea kettle installed at Punnami Ghat in Vijayawada on the Krishna riverbank. As the tea reached brewing temperature, steam from the kettle flowed into a concealed flute while mechanized fingers played Raag Hamsadhwani live — no recorded music. The installation ran April 5–6, 2025, after eight months of development with percussionist Taufiq Qureshi and flautist Hrishikesh Majumdar, supported by a campaign film and a cameo in the regional soap opera Padamati Sandhyaragam via Zee Telugu integration.

Per the LIA entry, spontaneous awareness rose 600 basis points and top-of-mind rose 300 bps — the strongest brand lift of the activity month. 'Enhances your mood' climbed 700 bps, the brand's highest score in 12 months, and the campaign film's TVR doubled (1.9 vs 0.8). Fans travelled from Hyderabad to watch the kettle play; the work won a Bronze at LIA 2025 (Music & Sound / Experiential Use) and was shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2025.

Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea has long wrapped itself in Indian classical music, but for most drinkers that heritage existed only in advertisements. Ogilvy India and Mindshare were asked to make the tradition tangible: let the tea itself make the music, live, in public.

Their answer was Chai Bansuri — a 500-litre tea kettle installed at Punnami Ghat in Vijayawada on the Krishna riverbank. As the brew heated, rising steam entered a concealed flute while mechanized fingers performed Raag Hamsadhwani in real time. Nothing was recorded: the steam was the air, the fingers the flautist.

The installation ran April 5–6, 2025, after eight months of engineering with percussionist Taufiq Qureshi and flautist Hrishikesh Majumdar, and was amplified by a campaign film and a cameo in Zee Telugu's Padamati Sandhyaragam. Fans travelled from Hyderabad to hear the kettle play.

According to the LIA entry, spontaneous awareness rose 600 basis points and top-of-mind 300 bps (the strongest brand lift of the activity month); 'enhances your mood' jumped 700 bps, the highest in 12 months; and the film's TVR doubled to 1.9 from 0.8. The work took a Bronze at LIA 2025 and was shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2025.

The demo was the medium: steam from real tea produced real music, so the audience heard the brand claim rather than being told it.

It replaced a recorded soundtrack with physics — a flute played by boiling water is proof no recording can fake.

It staged classical music where people actually gather, turning a centuries-old tradition into a shareable urban spectacle.

It scaled the moment through earned formats — a film, regional TV cameo and visitor word-of-mouth — so one 48-hour installation generated a month of brand lift.

Make the product's invisible physical property — steam — the instrument, and let the live experience prove the brand's cultural claim without a single recorded note.

Chai Bansuri won a Bronze at the 2025 London International Awards in Music & Sound / Experiential Use and was shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2025. The activation became a reference point for live brand experiences in India, showing that a utilitarian appliance — the tea kettle — could be reimagined as a classical instrument and a public event.