Could This Day Get Any 'Harder'?
The human composition has a way of communicating with you at a level that surprises you at the strangest of times. One of those is a mental signal when you wake up in the morning telling you if you are going to rock the day or if it is going to throw rocks at you. If it's the former, you wake up excited but if it's the latter, then you open your eyes and your mind has already begun preparing itself for an effort greater than all the times Hollywood has had to bring Matt Damon home from a perilous situation.
The mental ping of effort jolted me awake and getting ready, leaving the house, and covering the commute from home to the start point (the CarTrade Tech HQ) all went by in a blur. Ragynee, Satyen, and Poornima had already sent me the script of how this video for the Maruti Victoris was going to play out and looking at the finer details, I could tell—and now so can all of you—that this was going to be no easy task. And that wasn't just for the script! It was hot outside, the locations were far away and if I could monetise retakes, I would have had enough to buy at least a Maruti Celerio by the end of the shoot.
The 'Worst' Day Ever
If you have seen the video, you will know that I got late for work, then progressively got late to collect my 'special' packages, encountered heavy traffic all whilst the sun bearing down heavily on me. Oddly enough, we didn't have to adjust much of the shoot to encounter many of these scenarios and instead they played themselves out in real-time. This allowed our team time to focus its craft on giving you the visuals you see in those 14 minutes. I am by nature a slightly jittery and jumpy person and thus being in a constant state of rush and panic came to me quite naturally.
Calm Yet Effective
However, whilst I was jittery and panicked, the Victoris showed its mettle by keeping calm and offering itself without any hesitation for every shot that we took, needed to take again or be taken for a different angle. Whilst the crew was boiling outside, the Victoris' automatic climate control system and ventilated front seats kept me cool both in temperament and in real life too.
Look Ma, No Hands
One of the car's strong suits that revealed itself whilst we were getting stuff done was the ease of use with which we could interact with various functions. Be it the Smart Powered tailgate with gesture control, Suzuki e-Call, or the Alexa Auto Voice AI, hands-free was key and became the need of the hour when we had too much on our plates. Continuing in that vein, there is no loss of practicality if you decide to go the CNG route as you get an underbody S-CNG tank keeping all the benefits but also being light on your pocket.
Lot of Show and Lot of Go
The Victoris was already shaping up quite well and whilst on camera I was the panicked voice fighting mounting odds, behind the scenes my auto journalist instincts continued to churn and I began to appreciate the Victoris' 1.5-litre strong-hybrid powertrain offering a good balance of performance, refinement, and to no surprise at all, a pretty decent mileage figure. All of this is when you consider the rigours of shooting vehicles at all kinds of speeds repeatedly. The rigours were further pushed as I had to split my focus between shoot calls and being safe on the road and that meant taking help of the Level-2 ADAS that was working overtime to keep me in check and paired seamlessly with the e-CVT mated to the hybrid powertrain.
The Luxury Touches
As you can see, the Victoris was already shaping up pretty well and once a larger chunk of the heavy shots were done, I was able to focus more on the luxurious bits on offer and really enjoyed using the SmartPlay Pro 10.09-inch infotainment system paired to the Infinity Sound system.
Afterglow
At the end of every shoot day, as we made our way back to our HQ, the roads were empty, the music was a calm pulse in the background, and the whole cabin was bathed in various hues of the 64-shade selectable ambient lighting. I was tired yet satisfied and one with the road.
The Right Partner for the Longest Week of My Life
That morning I arrived dazed due to the rushed beginning but as I turned the corner onto the road in front of our office, there she was, gleaming in the rising sun, a sign that even if the going was going to get tough, I certainly had a superb partner for the journey. The ICOTY (Indian Car of the Year) 2026 and a five-star BNCAP/GNCAP-rated vehicle, no less.
The moment I got behind the wheel, I was able to sit myself exactly the way I wanted thanks to the eight-way powered driver's seat and could then set off for the shoot. Instantly, everything felt right. Not one of those, 'oh, I have to spend the next week with the car so let me get comfy,' no—both hands on the wheel and it felt like I was meant to be here all along. When I finished shooting on the last day for the last sequence, nothing had changed. The Maruti Victoris proved it really does have it all!
Fourteen minutes of me losing my composure while the Victoris keeps its cool and does everything like a pro. If that sounds entertaining, here's the link:
