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After Harbhajan, it’s Saif Ali Khan’s turn to get mocked by Dhoni
By CricketCountry Staff
After having taken a dig at Harbhajan Singh in one of their earlier advertisement, Vijay Mallya's UB group are at it again. This time the target is Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, son of former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.
Published: Oct 29, 2011, 06:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 29, 2011, 06:18 PM (IST)
MS Dhoni was earlier seen mocking his India team-mate Harbhajan Singh in one of the TVC
By CricketCountry Staff
Mumbai: Oct 29, 2011
After having taken a dig at Harbhajan Singh in one of their earlier advertisement, Vijay Mallya’s UB group are at it again. This time the target is Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, son of former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.
The original commercial shows Saif Ali Khan stepping out of the limousine escorted by security guards on bike and walking on the red carpet. He is then surrounded by photographers, who start clicking his pictures. He starts thinking if he has made it large in his life. He is then chased by fans and we see him performing in a rock concert.
The Dhoni spoof advertisement shows a lookalike of the Bollywood actor getting pushed to the ground, playing a guitar at a wedding with currency notes being flipped at him. He’s even shown getting frustrated. Finally the driver helps him to stand up and tells him, ‘Kitna bhi bada kar lo sahab, rahoge to aap chote sahab na (Whatever big things you do, you’ll always remain the junior).’
At this point of time, Dhoni comes on screen and says,”Zindagi mein kuch karna hai to large chhodo, kuch alag karo yaar (If you want to do something in life, leave large aside and do something different).”
India’s ace spinner Harbhajan Singh has earlier served a legal notice on Vijay Mallya-owned UB Spirits over a television advertisement that shows Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni “mocking” at him.
The legal notice has been sent by Avtar Kaur, Harbhajan’s mother, through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants.
Harbhajan’s lawyers, in the legal notice, have claimed that the commercial mocks the off-spinner, his family and the Sikh community. Advocate Shyam Dewani, one of the lawyers, said that more than the cricketer, his family was upset.
Harbhajan and Dhoni endorse rival brands. The Indian skipper in an McDowell’s No 1 Platinum advertisement allegedly makes fun of Harbhajan, who had featured in a advertisement for Royal Stag.
Alcoholic brands are not allowed to air direct advertising. So, Saif’s ad is for Royal Stag music and the spoof is for McDowell’s No. 1 soda.
Both Royal Stag and McDowell’s No 1 are competing whiskey brands in the market, coming in the same price band.
The Harbhajan ad for Royal Stag has the tag-line “Have I made it large?” The Dhoni ad for the McDowell’s has a Harbhajan look-alike ask, “Have I made it large?” and Dhoni says, “Forget large, do something different.”
In the Dhoni commercial, the Harbhajan look-alike works in a factory and gets slapped by his father for creating humongous iron balls in a tryst to ‘make it large’ at the ball-bearings workshop.
The Vijay Mallya-owned UB Group decided to withdraw the controversial advertisement later. It remains to be seen if they follow suit with this ad as well.
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