The latest salvo in this Coke-Pepsi battle for supremacy has wounded the nation's heartthrob, Hrithik
Roshan. Who, say sources, is rather upset.
The cause? Pepsi's response to Coke launching Hrithik as their latest mascot.
While the Coke ad currently on air showcases Hrithik as indulgently as his debut film did, the Pepsi rebuttal has not been gentle. For those who are yet to tune in to the ad, it is set in Bombay's famed The Bowling Co. Model Maya Sharma loses a game and is supposed to kiss the winner. But she decides that a spin of the Pepsi bottle will decide the lucky recipient of her
favour.
Spin one points to the ad's contentious part -- the Hrithik Roshan look-alike or, as Pepsi insists, the guy who in no way looks like
Hrithik, but would like to look like him. To add to the ignominy, he wears braces and is dressed to look like Hrithik in the Coke ad. Pretty Woman turns away in disgust.
Spin two points to a little kid whose plans to kiss Pretty Woman are upset by Shah Rukh's vociferous objections.
Spin three finds Shah Rukh stopping the bottle as soon as it faces him. Pretty Woman refuses to kiss him. But when the Khan shows every sign of being heartbroken, she walks back to him. A Pepsi symbol covers the screen and you hear the distinct sound of a smooch.
Papa Rakesh Roshan is very offended by the ad, say media reports. There is even speculation that the idea behind the ad was Shah
Rukh's. |