Akshey Kumar
What do you make of high profile lyricist Javed Akhtar endorsing Jaypee Cement? Om Puri for another brand of cement in the back drop of high rise buildings and airplane ?
The spectacle of celebrities in brazen cynical self-devaluation has had a certain undeniable force over the years. We have Big B selling some cool cool thanda thanda liquid fat. Should I consider him an exception owing to his growing age and believing myself charitable ?
It’s a mad mad world of creativity…..
For some, their profession hangs heavy round their necks and some are cut out for their jobs. We have Aamir Khan who is synonymous with Perfection we have Salman Khan who is famous for his brawn and generosity; we have Shahrukh Khan who has a Midas touch in every touch, of course with the exception of Knight Riders. But the one who flies at the tangent is our ‘Smooth Operator’ Akshay Kumar ‘The Machismo’ from Parantha Gali. Like his worthy colleagues of silver screen Akshay Kumar has several ‘worthy to ignore’ add campaigns to his credit. However, three of his performances have some very similar interesting story line and it can be put in one simple double-connotation word KHOLO (open up). This word seems to signify his brand of ‘Machoism’.
I have no hesitation in accepting that he is a man who has definitely changed the rules of the game. You can say he has almost rewritten it on his own terms. He had pushed the borders of decency to father horizons of hitherto somber add world. I’m not talking of condom adds or sweet Puja Bedi.
If the memory of the public is not worn out, let them remember the day when star Akshya Kumar was honored by President of India with the prestigious Padma award. On the same glorious day he was also seen in an obscene gesture at Lakme Fashion Show where he got buttons of his pants opened by his wife Twinkle. How unabashedly he pampers his wife to de-zip his pant before the spell bound and shocked audience ? Many law suits followed that adventure and he and his wife got easy escape from law.
Recently Akshay replaced Salman as Dollar innerwear brand ambassador. The add has its usual shor-sharaba and it begins with a shot where he asks 26 number bus to some punky funky gangsters and subdues them in a jiffy (an old Engglish theme which in different avatars have been repeated in Hindi films). In the next shot he becomes an embodiment of virtue and modesty and reminds a damsel in distress about ‘Aapka button khula hai !” The KHULA (open up or open down) word again is the climax of the theme.
And lo we have ‘Thumps Up – the tastes of thunder !” Again we find our macho man dangling in the air with a senorita comfortably ensconced in his lap on the plank of the suspender. The poor devil-may-care gymnast discusses about the very personal chase and follow-up query which again ends at a benign request – KHOLO ! This time again the same word come handy and it is about the bottle of Thumps Up ! Any comfort ?
After the luke-warm success of ‘Singh Is King’ he continues to appeal us with action, delight and comedy on screen which are turning out to be the damp squib.
His journey from KHOLO to KHULA and back to KHOLO might be an interesting coincidence of his life.
On a serious note – A recent survey conducted jointly by IMRB and i-Pan of over 2000 respondents, across 12 cities ( small and big metros) found that 86 percent of those interviewed admitted that the ad they most remembered had a celebrity. Ironically, only 3 percent said it influenced their buying decision. The IMRB study found that “more than the celebrity pull, factors like quality, price and experience ultimately drove consumers purchasing pattern.” Only 22% of this sample believes that the celebrities actually use the products endorsed.
