Tiger Shroff loses himself to Lata Mangeshkar and Coke Zero

This is the season of swaps. Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) chooses an action hero role, over his tried-and-tested romance hero persona, for his latest film ‘Pathaan’.

India’s lower-order batsmen and bowlers are increasingly playing the role designated to opening and top-order batsmen.

And, actor Tiger Shroff has swapped right to carbonated beverage Coca-Cola’s zero sugar variant Coke Zero, over rival Pepsi, which he endorsed until last year.

Dressed in a jacket resembling the beverage’s iconic red colour, Shroff is surprised to hear of Coke Zero. And, the moment he takes a sip, he’s lost in it and to late Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, as a remixed version of ‘Hothon Pe Bas’ plays in the background. The song and the visuals that follow, are arresting.

“When I thought of the film, I knew that there had to be a song in it from our film industry,” quips Afshan Hussain Shaikh, the ad’s director from Good Morning Films. This particular song, however, wasn’t the first choice.

There was another Mangeshkar song, but the rights to it were quite steep. The rights can “range anything between from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 90 lakh,” reveals Shaikh.

She calls her producers Doris George and Robin D’Cruz "her backbone" and they, along with her team, were able to find another track.

The team went to another record company, started researching tracks and “removed 10-12 songs, which lyrically worked with Shroff's feeling when he’s drinking Coke Zero.” Taste the feeling anyone?

Composer Ross Koopmans remixed ‘Hothon Pe Bas’ and when the team heard it, they realised it is the best from the lot.

The makers of the ad wanted to show Shroff not as an action star, but as a regular, everyday guy. In the ad, he is not shown as an actor on set or “filming an action scene. He is hanging out with friends, going out with his girlfriend…” Shroff, Shaikh says, had one request: a dance studio sequence.

The ad, like most beverage ads, has close-up shots of the bottle and Shaikh tells us that they kept one day after the shoot only for the bottle shots.

The ad was shot - from ideation to pack up in 10-12 days in November 2022.

Coke Zero is not the only zero-sugar carbonated beverage in the market. Coca-Cola’s rival PepsiCo released an India-specific ad for its zero sugar variant Pepsi Black, starring actress Jacqueline Fernandez last year.

The ad was a remake of Pepsi’s iconic 1992 gas station ad, featuring American supermodel Cindy Crawford.

Seeing Shroff in an ad from Coke, when he endorsed Pepsi until last year, may seem odd. But seeing endorsers switch over to rivals isn’t new.

In this case, “Coca-Cola wanted a brand ambassador and Shroff was a great fit,” says Sukesh Nayak, chief creative officer, Ogilvy. Nayak adds that they were keen to sign Shroff and when they heard he was available, they did just that.

In recent years, Salman Khan, a long-time endorser of Coca-Cola-owned Thums Up, switched to Pepsi. And SRK, who was Pepsi’s face, is now doing action stunts in Thums Up ads.

When asked if there are more Coke Zero ads starring Shroff, Nayak reveals that right now, they are simply taking this idea forward and working on an experience.

Credits:

Vocals by Lata Mangeshkar

Director: Afshan Hussain Shaikh

Executive Producer: Shashanka Chaturvedi, Robin D'Cruz, Vikram Kalra

Producer: Doris George

Cinematography: Mitesh Mirchandani

Art Director: Rachna Rastogi Sen & KK Muralidharan

Music: "Honthon Pe Bas" composed by Dilip Sen & Sameer Sen

Licensed from Tips Industries Ltd.

Reproduced by Ross Koopmans

Costume Stylist: Tanya Sharma

Editor: Tushar Shivan, Afshan Hussain Shaikh

Colorist: Ben Conkey

Sound Design: Deepangsu Roy

Online Artist: Dev Nayak

Agency: Ogilvy

Creatives:

CCO - Sukesh Nayak

Group Creative Directors - Archit Gadiyar & Vinit Sanghvi

Associate Creative Director - Sanjana Dora

Creative Controller - Sheel Dsouza

Creative Director - Noothan PR

Junior Visualiser - Ekta Gupta

Account Management:

Nikhil Mohan - Executive VP

Divya Madhavan - VP

Ishita Hora - Management Supervisor

Tasneem Loharchalwala - Account Director

Client: Coca Cola India

Kaushik Prasad - Director, Marketing

Aabir Chatterjee - Manager, Creative Strategy

Shrey Vig - Manager Frontline Marketing

Venkat Prasun - Associate Manager, Marketing

1st AD: Bhavna Gautam

DA's: Ishita Mishra, Drishya Menon, Shayoni Chaudhuri

AD's: Swati Vishnoi, Rahul Arora, Madhura Munj

Intern : Vithika Mishra

Assistant Producer: Srishti Bhasin, Kirti Gulyani

Line Producer: Sameer Kamble, Sandip Baban Thube

Prod ManagerS: Dinesh Satpute, Parshuram Patil

Prod AssistantS: Rishikesh More, Mohsin Shaikh

Set PA: Smriddhi Vyas

Hair & Make-up: Sonam Chandna

Casting Director: Yash Nagarkoti

Additional Costume Stylist : Nehal Jain

Costume Assistants: Garvika Khanna, Reedima Indulkar, Surabhi Dalvi

Post Producer: Dhruv Thakkar

Post Supervisor: Ankit Rathi

Post Assistants: Sunil Wagh, Sandesh Surve

Post House: Picture Post Studios, Boing Studio

Online Team: Parag Kakade

Accounts Team: Shashikant Kasar, Amit Tondare

Care Takers : Anand, Rauf

Tiger Shroff Team:-

Costume Stylist: Kazim

Make-up Artist: Rahul Kothavale

Hair Stylist: Amit Yashwant Yadav

Choreographer: Bikram Pratap Swain