A glass of steaming milky syrupy tea is best served cut. One by two or two by three, it embodies the spirit of sharing and camaraderie (and more significantly a resource crunch). Come, have a sip.
Quite a long while ago when I had initiated (and now reviving) the Fantastic Females series on this blog, the name Lisa Ray was on the top of the list of all the fantastic females that I wanted to feature.
While a comprehensive post on Lisa Ray will take quite some effort to put together, here's an ad when Lisa made men's formal wear look irresistibly hot.
This ad (one in the series of many) for Bombay Dyeing's Vivaldi readymade garments for men didn't have any of the skin show that we generally tend to associate with Sexy Indian Ads. But it is a worthy addition to the collection.
Earlier, in my excitement, I had confused Aliya Knightley for Lisa Ray (Hope, I haven't repeated the error. The two look so similar.)
It's been quite a while since I posted a condom ad. So here it is:
Partner premium quality flavoured dotted condoms.
Looks like Medikit got this ad made from an in-house intern.
And much like Kamasutra's 'Jusk Ask for KS', you'll have to ask your chemist for a 'PC'.
Chances are, he might just direct to the nearest Nehru Place like computer hardware hub or better still, send you to North Block, Central Secretariat, New Delhi, to go find the Home Minister.
Sherlyn Chopra (previously known as Mona Chopra) is one of the most 'revealing' starlets of Bollywood. And now she (following the likes of Shilpa Shetty, Mahima Chaudhary, Amisha Patel, Isha Koppikar and John Abraham) poses for a PETA ad.
Since the ad is for PETA India, we don't get to see her naked, a two piece is what the Indian sensibilities have been stretched to, yet. Though she, lying on a bed, is chained at the ankle and weilds a whip.
Photographed by Rakesh Shrestha, the tagline of the ad reads "Whips and chains belong in the bedroom, not in the circus." This ad is the latest in the PETA series against animals in entertainment.
Why are most men's deo ads in India the same. There are numerous other ways to be sexy. Come on agencies you can do better. Anyway another for the collection.
But then this is not the real purpose of this post. Yesterday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 and one of the far-reaching features is the native support for HTML 5 audio and video with Ogg Theora, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV formats. In the not-so distant future, this is going to change how multimedia content is served on the Web. Proprietary formats like Flash and Silverlight would not rule the roost.
A simple sample of HTML 5 embedded video and audio of the Fuel deo TVC:
But the obsolete Web browser Internet Explorer 6 is the biggest impediment to the growth of the new Internet. One of the major pains while launching any new website is the compatibility with IE6. More than a third (38 percent) of the readers of this blog are still on IE6 and that's a huge slice.
And one of the major roadblocks to existing Firefox users upgrading to the Firefox 3.5 is the incompatibility of so many add-ons with the latest version. Maybe Mozilla should put a check in place that add-on developers upgrade their stuff. But then, the free nature of the Firefox browser would go against such curbs.
Learn more about Firefox and HTML 5 video and audio.
This surrogate advertisement for AC Black Whisky (displayed product was AC Black Apple Juice) had stirred up a bit of controversy in the early 2000s. The TVC was subsequently taken off air.
A man takes a sip of Aristocrat Black Apple Juice/Whisky and looks at an attractive woman on the other side of the room, and her neckline gets lower and diminishes with every sip.
As he sips for the kill, he finds his shirt open. The woman is also playing the same game. The tagline says, Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai (Anything is possible).
The agency is JointArms Communication and the company Jagatjit Industries Limited.
Print ad:
Another memorable ad from the AC Black Series was one where a waitress is collecting empty glasses and a man and a woman place their 'AC Black Apple Juice' glasses on the tray side by side. And while the waitress carries away the tray, the glasses collide and so do the man and woman. As the glasses sway, the two begin to dance. And when the waitress turns on the tap to wash the glasses, it starts to rain. The rain dance continues as the glasses get washed and finally when the glasses are placed side by side to dry, the couple freeze in their dance posture.
[This ad was requested by Sanjay from Bangalore. Thanks Sanjay, for reminding me of this.]
Imagine on a rainy night you open the door and find Katrina Kaif drenched in a white saree (in typical Bollywood style) asking if she could seek shelter from the rain.
Though the advertisement says Old Admiral Aqua Pura packaged drinking water, like most such ads, it is a surrogate ad for Radico Khaitan's Old Admiral Brandy. The tagline reads, Har Pal Ka Saathi (A companion for all times).
In the background the lilting duet originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein from the 1974 film Ajnabee plays.
The music's by RD Burman and lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi. The sensuous rain number was picturised on Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman (dressed, not in a white saree, but in an almost white dress that I think is a maxi).
The Seven Deadly Sins, in a way, summarises a day in the life of the Chaiwallah. And they sound so much more appealing in Latin: luxuria (lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy) and superbia (pride).
Envy - Be thy neighbour's envy Lemax The Jean Co.
Gluttony - Bite more than you can chew Lemax The Jean Co. Greed - Want more than you shall need Lemax The Jean Co.
Lust - Leave a lusting impression Lemax The Jean Co.
Pride - Narcissism be thy religion Lemax The Jean Co.
Sloth - Thou shall love inertia Lemax The Jean Co.
Wrath - Thou shall not hold back thy fury Lemax The Jean Co.
And in case you haven't noticed, there is an apple (partially eaten) in each of them. Apple - the original sin.
A couple of other Seven Sins ads from other countries:
Seven Sins on five floors Harvey Nicols Beauty
(Harvey Nicols is an upmarket department store chain)
The Seven Deadly Sins Seven special programmes to lead you astray 13ème Rue The Crime Channel
(13ème Rue is a French cable channel)
Algida Magnum 7 Sins
The language might be different, but we get the meaning. Magnum had also released individual ads focussing on each of the Seven Deadly Sins.
(Algida is Wall's, the ice-cream manufacturer, in Italy)
And if these ads have tickled your inner sinner and now you want delve deeper. Here's, for you, Frederick Rogers' 1907 book The Seven Deadly Sins:
This Slice Aamsutra TVC appears to be an U-rated version of the Kaamsutra/Kamasutra, with some mango nectar involved in a sensuous play with one of Bollywood's most dazzling beauties - Katrina Kaif.
I found it to be quite... erotic. The Rasiya Aaja number in the background is quite pleasant to the ears.
Katrina is the ultimate trophy heroine (could term it as an 'item heroine' as different from an 'item girl'). She doesn't need to act or even mouth lines (things that exactly aren't her forte), she just needs to be there in the frame with some closeups (including the extreme ones).
I think that Katrina can't ever look vulgar. Even in Boom - that scare of a movie - which incidentally was Katrina's debut and where she wore the skimpiest outfits of her entire film career, she looked pretty (Potentially NSFW). That's what Katrina is and therefore she is the hottest keyword on the search engines.
Many people are landing on this post looking for the Slice Aamsutra Rasiya Aaja MP3/ringtone. Just to ensure that they don't return disappointed, here's the audio version:
Saket Chaudhary's much loved 2006 romantic-comedy Pyar Ke Side Effects provides us with some insights on why do girls want to get married and boys are usually (though not always) averse to the idea.
There's a scene in the movie where Sid (Rahul Bose) Nanoo (Ranvir Shorey) and Aamir Bashir (Kapil Sharma - Sid's brother-in-law) discuss the finer details of marriage over bottles of beer.
Kapil's observation is that girls want to get married because wedding is a beauty contest that every girl can win, as on that day her make-up, clothes, jewellery is better than rest of the girls. That day "she can be Miss World".
Durex apple flavoured condoms print ad: Your turn now to seduce heer with the forbidden fruit. Apple flavoured condoms. Next time she is hungry for love, offer her a heavenly temptation. Durex's new apple flavoured condom. So that lovemaking turns more fruitful. Even sinful. Durex Apple The original temptation
Hunky John Abraham and dusky Jiah Khan in a commercial for Wrangler Jeans. Both get close and closer. Fingers slip into the belt loop, hands get beneath the thighs. And given Jiah's penchant for water she wants to do it under the shower. But John has other plans - a long run away in a bathtub on the riverside. "Do It Your Way - Wrangler".
Delhi Times reports/advertises that the ad for model-VJ Pia Trivedi's new show on ETC channel, Dress Circle, is "too hot to handle."
And the Censor Board has asked for cuts in the promo (to be shown in cinema theatres) as they were "too hot and daring" and even post the cuts it would be released "only in theatres running films with an 'A' ccertificate."
Obviously, I got curious and decided to have a look at the "hot" ad and was disappointed to find it a bit damp.
Edgy! Sexy! Hardcore! Prepare to be a part of my circle... Dress Cirlce Under Bollywood's skin! Circle of movies... With me Pia Every Friday Only on ETC Every Friday 7:30 PM
Pia Trivedi in ETC Dress Cirlce promo photo gallery:
The 'Debonair' here is not to be confused with the adult blog, but the once 'revered' monthly men's magazine. This advertisement from the November 1987 issue invites girls to pose for Debonair magazine.
[Click to enlarge] Show the world what you really are.
How often have you stared at yourself in a mirror - admired your beautiful features and figure - and wished you could let people see the way you really are? Now's your chance. We are looking for models for our colour photofeatures. The photographs will be shot by internationally renowed photographers like Adam Steven, Swapan Mukherjee and Chien Wien Lee. Selected models will be paid handsomely. Many of our models have launched into exciting careers in films and advertising from our pages. Why not you? Send two recent photographs (full length in a bikini and a closeup of the face) to The Editor, Debonair Publications Pvt Ltd, 41A, Dr E Moses Road, Worli, Bombay 400 018, mentioning your vital statistics, height, weight and age.
Be a Debonair girl. Let people see the real you.
Magazines like Debonair found it difficult to get models for their pages and therefore perhaps needed to advertise to find some willing candidates.
Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group, commenting on the news about Playboy launching an India edition:
The present avatar of Debonair doesn't seem to feature any topless models and has also toned down its content. But the glory days of the magazine are long over.
A couple of interesting bits (the more interesting in bold) about Debonair magazine that I found online:
Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group (in an interview with Exchange4Media.com):
Akshay Kumar is one movie star who is getting better with age (I didn't like his latest hit Singh is Kinng though) and this is on display in the new ad for Levis 501 jeans. And muscles look good on him (unlike Shah Rukh Khan displaying his overhyped 'six-pack').
The girl in the ad whose unbuttoning endeavour is cut short by the director's shout, comes back and seductively tells Akki, "See you next time, unbuttoned all the way."
There have been quite a lot of women in the Sexy Indian Ads section of this blog. Time to take care of the needs of the straight female readership.
The video (I've for the time being abandoned the old video player, it was too much of a pain for a little style):
Their tag line says "The best thing to happen to men since women."
Well, tag lines can claim anything.
But if you are interested in babes, sex, gadgets, babes, beer, laughs, babes, cars, fashion, babes and a few more babes, then you might be interested in the magazine.
There's more to see than read in there, therefore it doesn't take much time to reach from the front to the back cover.
And there's also a digital version in a CD for the guys (and gals) with pulpuslaceratapohobia.
For me the ads also matter and Maxim (the desi edition) has a few of them that fit into the 'Sexy Indian Ads' category of this blog.
Here they are, in print and as moving images (including the one above):
[This ad actually reminds me of an 1996 or 1997 issue of an Indian men's magazine (there were quite a few back then therefore am getting confused with the name) featuring photos of a girl in a cricket kit (and nothing much else on).] How to bowl a maiden over. And everything else on a man's mind.
We know men care about their girls and tools. Only tools don't make for great cover pictures.
Caution it may melt your mouse. First time in India. eMaxim. World's largest selling men's magazine. Now on a CD.
Cover girls International girls Inside girls Maxim girls archive Miss Maxim Maxim girls home Girls www.maximindia.in
This ad has been viewed almost 7.5 lakh times on YouTube (and has also been flagged an inappropriate for minors by some users, therefore you need to log in to view it there).
But then, at Cutting the Chai - there aren't any such restrictions. You get to watch ads (and a lot of other things too) and get access to related goodies.
Now back to the ad. It's for Wildstone deodorant. The female model in the ad is Pune girl Snigdha Akolkar. She has also appeared in TV serials and a (saree-clad) item number.
Presently a shorter version of the ad is being telecast on TV. Though both versions convey the same message, the longer version is (obviously) more ... detailed. The backdrop is of a Durga Puja at a Bengali household and this Bong lass - Snigdha does look like one in a sada-lal-par-saree (white red-bordered-saree) - experiences an olfactory fantasy where she contemplates a sexual encounter with a stranger, she accidentally bumped into, just because he smells irresistibly good (Axe?).
"The waterfall was Indian advertising's watershed, when former Air-India hostess Karen Lunel appeared in a green two-piece bikini for Liril. The first in a series that later also brought us Preity Zinta, Liril gave Indian advertising the sex appeal of the semi-clad feminine form, which it has used ever since to sell aftershaves, cars, clothing and condoms..." I wrote in an article for Tehelka.
If what I know is right, this was one of the earliest colour ads to be aired on Indian television (the brand - Liril - was launched in 1975) and colour entered Indian living rooms courtesy the 1982 Asian Games.
For Alyque Padamsee, the man then at the helm of Lintas, the agency behind the landmark ad, "more than the freshness that comes from its features, Liril promised 20 minutes of freedom to the Indian housewife who gets pulled in different directions for the rest of the time."
For those who came in late (to planet Earth) here is the revolutionary Liril ad:
The ad was shot in Pambar Falls in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, which is now more popularly known as 'Liril Falls' thanks to the ad.
Karen Lunel was the first Liril girl. Those who followed her include Aneesha Dalal, Pooja Batra, Anjali Jathar, Hrishita Bhat, Tara Sharma, Ruchi Malhotra, Deepika Padukone, Divya Palat and of course Preity Zinta.
An interesting fact that I never realised before - the name is a palindrome.
So catchy is the La lara la la... tune, composed by Vanraj Bhatia, that I couldn't help but make a ringtone out of it. You can preview and download the MP3 ringtone from below:
This ad has been viewed almost 7.5 lakh times on YouTube (and has also been flagged an inappropriate for minors by some users, therefore you need to log in to view it there).
