Happy 24 days to SRK Day!!!!! Let’s look at 24 of his non-film works, his TV ads. Such fun for those of us not in India who never get to see them! Apologies to those in India who are probably tired of them.
24. I’m gonna start with his brilliant early series, the Hyundai Santra adds from the 90s. In 4 parts! Part 1 first
23. Now part 2
22. Now part 3
21. And finally, part 4!
20. He came back with the same kind of add years later, still playing superficial silly star Shahrukh who is in love with a car.
19. Another new one, super cute, and also quite the wish fulfillment, right? Shahrukh Khan delivering our food?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob25FXcuNBI
18. Speaking of wish-fulfillment, this makes you want to go to Dubai, doesn’t it? Especially with the beard?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOVsAkhH8d8
17. Or West Bengal! We could be that white lady!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JgJbGl8DOI
16. Or he could magically come to us through the internet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moC36HSQPR0
15. You know what I find most unbelievable about this particular ad? Shahrukh really doesn’t give off much of a surfer vibe, does he?
14. this one is just to help us with our JHMS hangovers.
13. Speaking of his famous heroines, here is one with both Priyanka and Kareena!
12. Speakin of Pepsi, this one’s pretty good! and again more on the “Shahrukh is a silly actor” side of persona instead of “Shahrukh is an all powerful being”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4G3-ckpl08
11. This is my favorite of the “Shahrukh as an all powerful being” ads. I know it’s a bad lesson, fair and handsome and all that, but I still like the idea of him spreading handsomeness to random deserving people in the crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGr2QwDv_P8
10. Okay, top ten! Starting with Juhi and Shahrukh, because they are so cute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0MLjASXYCk
9. But he is always cutest with Gauri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qDaKE8st_8
8. Okay, so this is a super recent ad, and I am pretty sure I’ve already listed it out somewhere else, but it is so cute! I can’t resist it!
7. Not sure if I’ve listed this one before or not, but I really like it! Shahrukh, as the spirit of entertainment, bringing joy to all of India!
6. So high concept! So complicated! So kind of a little scary maybe?
5. I know I’ve listed this one before too. But I don’t care! SO SWEET! So cutely gay!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGsz8HXuhJA
4. Another unexpected couple option.
3. This one might be something that I watch whenever I get depressed. Or, it might not. I will leave it to your imagination!
2. Look at this! All social-messagey and Amitabhy! It really should be number 1. But it isn’t, because I am shallow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDrxJAS8ivs
1.1. I told you, I’m shallow.
dontcallitbollywood 
There’s an ad from Mr. S. R. Khan’s early days (mid-1990s, I think) where Mr. S.R. Khan appeared as himself in the form of a still photograph / small poster (it was some sort of win-the-contest-and-meet-Shah-Rukh-Khan type advertisement) on the local equivalent of MTV Music Television in India, that basically had two scenes.
Scene 1: Normal looking teenage fangirl daydreaming in her bedroom about Mr. S.R. Khan (the room had enough props to indicate her fandom, but not at the level of the in-your-face room of Gaurav in Fan), till her “Auntie-ji” [respected matron persona] of a mother enters the room and yells at her to … do her homework, etc. instead of wasting her time. [Think of Ms. S. Khan when she was enacting the role of Mrs. “Sukhi” Kaur Bhamra yelling “Jesminder, why …” in Bend It Like Beckham, although it sounded more like “JASSMINDAR, WHY …]
Scene 2: Auntie-ji has now shown lying alone in her bed vaguely staring at the roof holding a photograph of you-know-who-by-now to her traditionally attired bosom, saying something like “Oooooooh Shah Roooookh.”
This was a noticeable advertising moment when local men in India went, “Really? Him? What’s so particularly special about him as the epitome of emotional enticement? I mean, he can dance a bit, fight a bit, can emote a bit, is in movies with decent screenplays, but still, him?”; to which straight women and gay men in that country went all “Karan Johar” and responded, “tum naheen samjhogay, kuch kuch hota hai [you won’t understand, an emphatic something happens].”
In terms of impact, it was the equivalent of a previously broadcast beverage-selling television advertisement (an Indian remake of an American brand) starring Mr. A. Khan [P.K. fame], Ms. Mahima Chaudhury [Pardes fame] and Ms. A. Rai. This was the moment that introduced Ms. A. Rai to the Indian audience, nobody’s brain registered the presence of the other two after that ad aired.
In don’t have access to the advertisement (it was more of a marketing stunt) with Mr. S.R. Khan, but the Ms. A. Rai one is linked below:
Regards.
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Thank you! Fascinating as always.
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I’d rather not say, I like your input, too. I’ve a vague recollection of these scenes…
Nice paatime along the memory line, all these ads 🙂 (he did so many I like that even for a 52nd birthday post there would be enough 🙂
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