HRITHIK'S DIL MAANGE NO MORE??

Rakesh Roshan was watching television on Tuesday night, when the fizz was shaken out of him. He saw his son, Hrithik, the latest heartthrob, being made mockery of in a Pepsi ad.

The Pepsi ad, an obvious spoof on Hrithik’s ad for Coke, shows a Hrithik look-alike wearing braces, being made fun of by arch rival Shah Rukh Khan.

‘‘It is in bad taste,’’ remarked Rakesh Roshan. ‘‘Many of Hrithik’s fans have been calling up telling me that the ad should be withdrawn.’’

This is one more episode in the never-ending cola wars. After Coke created the ad with Hrithik Roshan, Pepsi sought to go one up. So ad man Prahlad Kakkar came up with one that poked a finger at the new heartthrob, with Shah Rukh Khan as the protagonist who gets a kiss from a sexy model and the Hrithik look-alike gets the jibes.

Someone even called up Hrithik and told him that his look-alike was in the Pepsi commercial and wearing braces. Roshan Jr got so wild, he shot off letters to Pepsi, Kakkar and Shah Rukh telling them that the whole thing was not in good taste, and demanded to know what was happening.

Said Rakesh Roshan, ‘‘Hrithik wrote a letter stating that he was just a newcomer and such an ad would be detrimental to his image. He even wrote that people should be encouraging him rather than putting him down,’’ says Roshan.

In fact, Roshan feels that Pepsi had done it deliberately to spite Hrithik. ‘‘Prahlad Kakkar apologised to me saying that Pepsi had forced him to put it (Hrithik’s look-alike) in. Initially, both Pepsi and Coke were behind Hrithik. But we went for Coke. So Pepsi did this to spite us.’’

Everyone will remember how Shah Rukh Khan’s face dropped at the Filmfare Awards this year, when Hrithik strode in to give a fabulous speech defying all those who had sprayed bullets on his father. The ad, one film industry man said, was probably Khan’s rejoinder to the new reigning heartthrob.

‘‘It is true that Hrithik called me up. I told him that he was over-reacting and that the ad was very cute. I told him that he should take it in the right spirit,’’ said Prahlad Kakkar. He said Hrithik demanded a copy of the tape. ‘‘I sent him the tape and he found the ad cute too.’’

But Hrithik’s father denies receiving the tape. ‘‘Not at all. He never sent us any tape,’’ said Roshan. How Hrithik came to know about the Pepsi ad even before it was aired is ofcourse another tale. ‘‘You know how the Coke and Pepsi guys keep on spying on what the other is doing. That’s how!’’ said Kakkar.

For those who haven’t got a glimpse of the action yet, the Pepsi ad is about this young girl who strolls into a bowling alley, where Shah Rukh tells her she would have to kiss the person in whose direction the Pepsi bottle points. And he spins the bottle round which stops in the direction of the Hrithik look-alike. Shah Rukh tells the guy: ‘Ek smile ho jaye’, he opens his mouth and the braces go ‘ping’. And Shah Rukh tells him to ‘Enjoy’.

Shah Rukh spins the bottle once more and it stops in the direction of a little boy. Shah Rukh tells him he is too young for a kiss and spins it again to stop it on himself. The girl won’t kiss him. But does when she sees him get upset. ‘‘Doesn’t this sound cute?’’ asks Kakkar.

Kakkar is upset that the matter has been blown out of proportion. ‘‘If he wants to sue me, it means he is taking himself too seriously. I was made fun of in the Sprite ad. There is this character who looks like me, tells this guy called Joe to get a rope. Now Joe is my assistant,’’ he said.

Rakesh Roshan is still considering whether to sue Pepsi. ‘‘I will wait for a week to see the reaction of the media. Then I will take action,’’ he said. Let’s see who blinks first!

Source : Mid Day

Back Home