When you landed on this page, did you hear yourself saying "Damn, yet another web-page on Indian ads from 80s-90s?!". This sugarcane has been through the crusher so many times, it's hard to imagine any juice left ( I mean "real juice", not the nimboo/ice they force along sometimes). Though there have been many threads/discussions on the topic, I had always been late to every party : joining in when the original culprits had fled the scene. I tried my best to list only ads that weren't, but in case anything got repeated - "pardonne moi", pardon me. On most threads I have seen on this topic, if there's one phrase that showed up countless number of times, it was - "How can you forget?".So here's to you great folks who absolutely refuse to forget.
1. Colgate Gel . Coalgate was a bit late to the Gel toothpaste trend, as Close-Up had took that race. They did introduce a blue gel toothpaste.
1. Colgate Gel . Coalgate was a bit late to the Gel toothpaste trend, as Close-Up had took that race. They did introduce a blue gel toothpaste.
(Chorus - "On and on and on and on and on")
Life is ???
The feeling is superb
I've got fresh breath energy
Everyday belongs to me
The hindi version went
(Chorus - चलता रहे, मचलता रहे.चलता रहे, मचलता रहे)
ज़िंदगी जीने के लिए,
सारी दुनिया मेरे लिए.
साँसों में ज़िंदादिल ताज़गी,
हरपल है मेरे लिए.2. Atlas Cycles :
नई सुबह नई डगर,
सामने हैं राहें नई,
विश्वास ऐटलस पर हमें
ऐटलस पर चले हम शान से
3. Girnar Chai
(Preeti Sagar) गिरनार चाय , (Chorus) गिरनार चाय
दादाजी को भाए, उमंग छा जाए,
गिरनार की परंपरा बढ़ती जाए.
गिरनार चाय , (Chorus) गिरनार चाय
(Preeti Sagar) मज़े से पीजिए, औरों को पिलाइए.
कड़क, मीठी, ख़ुश्बूदार
गिरनार चाय , (Chorus) गिरनार चाय
(Preeti Sagar) मज़े से पीजिए, औरों को पिलाइए.
कड़क, मीठी, ख़ुश्बूदार
गिरनार चाय.
"कड़क, मीठी, ख़ुश्बूदार"? What does चायपत्ती have to do with चाय being sweet? But anyways, such was our unquestioning loyalty to the telly tube.
4. Vrindavan Chai : Since I have lifted a cup of tea with Girnaar, just thought why not follow up another tea brand. I hunted a lot for traces of this brand, but to no avail. So, if it seems that I'm totally faking this brand and its ad, nothing wrong with it (Damn ! Was it just a local radio ad? The green matter gives up) .
(Male lead)
वृंदावन चाय -
आज कल परसो
वही स्वाद बरसो
वृंदावन चाय
5. Dalda : I read somewhere that Dalda was originally a Dutch brand "Dada". On acquiring this brand, the UniLever group added the "L" in the middle to make it "DaLda".
कौन हर सुबह सभी को संवारे,
किसकी ये आँखें, हैं प्यार के तारे.
ये नर्मी ये गर्मी डालडा से आए
ये स्वाद, जो चेहरे पे रौनक जगाए.
वो तुम हो तुम्ही हो, के जिस पर है नाज़
तुम्ही तो हो ममता की आवाज़.
This ad appeared during 1988-89, when the DD serial "Mirza Ghalib" had made Jagjit Singh a nationally known phenomenon. I guess Dalda used his newfound prominence for promoting their product.
6. Boro-Plus :
This one used to show up prominently on Sunday evenings. The company used to sponsor a kiddie serial - I believe "दादा दादी की कहानियाँ" (though "विक्रम और वेताल" also belonged to the same timeslot.)
गुड़िया रानी बड़ी सयानी,
पाए हमेशा - प्लस (a kid making a plus with both her forefingers).
बोरो प्लस,बोरो प्लस,बोरो प्लस
This one used to show up prominently on Sunday evenings. The company used to sponsor a kiddie serial - I believe "दादा दादी की कहानियाँ" (though "विक्रम और वेताल" also belonged to the same timeslot.)
गुड़िया रानी बड़ी सयानी,
पाए हमेशा - प्लस (a kid making a plus with both her forefingers).
बोरो प्लस,बोरो प्लस,बोरो प्लस
अंग अगर छिल जाए - प्लस (this and all the "plus" below, accompanied by someone making forefinger plus) ,
त्वचा अगर जल जाए - प्लस
त्वचा अगर जल जाए - प्लस
मौसम जब सताए - प्लस
7. Thums Up :
This Thums Up commercial belongs to the mid-eighties. There was a tv serial sometime during 84-85 called "Mr ya Mrs." starring Jayant Kripalani, which aired on Sunday late-morning/afternoon slot. It had a very nice title song. The 2 lines I remember from that duet (the female lead was Poornima aka Sushma Shreshtha, the same voice that featured in many khatiya-chhap songs and the hit number from "Bol Radha Bol", "Tu tu tu, tu tu tara, Todo na dil hamara")
मियाँ बीवी राज़ी, तो क्या करेगा काज़ी
जीवन के इस खेल में, कोई ना जीता बाज़ी
Anyways, back to the ad itself. The scene is a tense boardroom meeting. An office-boy enters to take beverage orders from the folks in the meeting. And so goes the order sequence : " Coffee, coffee, Tea, Black coffee, Black," and finally our hero goes "Thums Up". And everyone else changes their orders to Thums Up.
8. Campa Cola : Another Sunday late morning serial was the English series "Double Trouble". English was still a "Phoren" language to me back then. So this and other serials like "Star Trek", "Cosmos by Carl Sagan" were lost to me (another sci-fi claymation series comes to mind but its name eludes me right now). Anyway "Double Trouble" was sponsored by Campa-Cola, orange flavored drink - Campa Orange.
We're all in it together,
For the fun of it.
???
Campa Orange flavor, That's the flavour of fun.
9. Rol-a-Cola : Parle's take on a Cola-flavoured toffee. I thought this was "dead on arrival", but was bamboozled to know it was re-introduced a couple of years ago.
(Chorus all the way )
Rol-a-Cola, Rol-a-Cola, Rol-a-Cola.
Rol-a-Cola, कोला का गोला.
10. Herbofit : This was a herbal-general-fitness supplement sometime in 80s.
Herbofit capsule लीजिए हर दिन
एक Herbofit capsule लीजिए हर दिन
11. Appy : Fresh on the heels of tremendous success for "Mango Frooti", Parle Agro (different from the Parle that makes biscuits/toffees) decided make a follow-on apple drink and called it "Appy". Didn't do well in the first run, but re-introduced in a carbonated avatar in 2005 as Appy Fizz.
(Male lead)
Make it ??, Make it Snappy, Make it zap, zap, zappy,
Make it Appy !
12. RimZim Jeera drink : Readers would definitely have
पिएँ रिमझिम, पिलाएँ रिमझिम,
पिएँ रिमझिम, पिलाएँ रिमझिम,
खाने से पहले स्वाद में,
या बाद में पिएँ
13. M. R. Coffee : The ad was a cartoon featuring a European looking guy with cool chin-beard. He had two great looking chicks by his side, (relax, I said Cartoon ;) ...) which I guess was their idea of "डबल मज़ा".
[Preeti Sagar in the lead all the way]
डबल मज़ा है और कम दाम,
M. R. Coffee जिसका नाम.
इस कॉफ़ी के सर पे ताज
M. R. Coffee लाना आज
14. Strepsils :
Strepsils made a clever ad using the intro logos of two famous Hollywood studios. The "Roaring Lion" from MGM Studios and the "flashing searchlights" of 20th Century Fox . Ad starts with the lion trying to roar in his usual style but manages only a "meek meow" due to sore throat. On taking a Strepsils, the voice is back to normal and the ad ends with the voice-over announcing the flavors: "Orange, Lemon, Ginger Lemon - Strepsils" (as he says this, the words "orange", "lemon" etc appear in the space where '20th Century Fox' appears in their logo)
Honorable mentions : I don't have much on the ads below, so I'll settle for a quick reference :
15. Cadbury's Dollops Lollipop: Or was it "Mr. Dollops". It had big monkey (basically, a man in a costume) playing with kids.They also showed molten chocolate being poured inside a sweet milky shell.
-- Galaxy Footwear : Jhoomte kadam
15. Vandevi hing : It featured comedians Tuntun and Mukri (in Rajasthani costume).
16. Forhans :
17. Tomato Puree : Not much about this ad but that it was a Voltas product.
18. VIP Baniyan - Mazboot itni, dara singh Jitni
19. Kajori Kajori - Mashhoor hai naam de araam,
Kajori Kajori Kajori Baniyan
7. Thums Up :
This Thums Up commercial belongs to the mid-eighties. There was a tv serial sometime during 84-85 called "Mr ya Mrs." starring Jayant Kripalani, which aired on Sunday late-morning/afternoon slot. It had a very nice title song. The 2 lines I remember from that duet (the female lead was Poornima aka Sushma Shreshtha, the same voice that featured in many khatiya-chhap songs and the hit number from "Bol Radha Bol", "Tu tu tu, tu tu tara, Todo na dil hamara")
मियाँ बीवी राज़ी, तो क्या करेगा काज़ी
जीवन के इस खेल में, कोई ना जीता बाज़ी
8. Campa Cola : Another Sunday late morning serial was the English series "Double Trouble". English was still a "Phoren" language to me back then. So this and other serials like "Star Trek", "Cosmos by Carl Sagan" were lost to me (another sci-fi claymation series comes to mind but its name eludes me right now). Anyway "Double Trouble" was sponsored by Campa-Cola, orange flavored drink - Campa Orange.
We're all in it together,
For the fun of it.
???
Campa Orange flavor, That's the flavour of fun.
9. Rol-a-Cola : Parle's take on a Cola-flavoured toffee. I thought this was "dead on arrival", but was bamboozled to know it was re-introduced a couple of years ago.
(Chorus all the way )
Rol-a-Cola, Rol-a-Cola, Rol-a-Cola.
Rol-a-Cola, कोला का गोला.
10. Herbofit : This was a herbal-general-fitness supplement sometime in 80s.
Herbofit capsule लीजिए हर दिन
एक Herbofit capsule लीजिए हर दिन
11. Appy : Fresh on the heels of tremendous success for "Mango Frooti", Parle Agro (different from the Parle that makes biscuits/toffees) decided make a follow-on apple drink and called it "Appy". Didn't do well in the first run, but re-introduced in a carbonated avatar in 2005 as Appy Fizz.
(Male lead)
Make it ??, Make it Snappy, Make it zap, zap, zappy,
Make it Appy !
12. RimZim Jeera drink : Readers would definitely have
पिएँ रिमझिम, पिलाएँ रिमझिम,
पिएँ रिमझिम, पिलाएँ रिमझिम,
खाने से पहले स्वाद में,
या बाद में पिएँ
13. M. R. Coffee : The ad was a cartoon featuring a European looking guy with cool chin-beard. He had two great looking chicks by his side, (relax, I said Cartoon ;) ...) which I guess was their idea of "डबल मज़ा".
[Preeti Sagar in the lead all the way]
डबल मज़ा है और कम दाम,
M. R. Coffee जिसका नाम.
इस कॉफ़ी के सर पे ताज
M. R. Coffee लाना आज
14. Strepsils :
Strepsils made a clever ad using the intro logos of two famous Hollywood studios. The "Roaring Lion" from MGM Studios and the "flashing searchlights" of 20th Century Fox . Ad starts with the lion trying to roar in his usual style but manages only a "meek meow" due to sore throat. On taking a Strepsils, the voice is back to normal and the ad ends with the voice-over announcing the flavors: "Orange, Lemon, Ginger Lemon - Strepsils" (as he says this, the words "orange", "lemon" etc appear in the space where '20th Century Fox' appears in their logo)
Honorable mentions : I don't have much on the ads below, so I'll settle for a quick reference :
15. Cadbury's Dollops Lollipop: Or was it "Mr. Dollops". It had big monkey (basically, a man in a costume) playing with kids.They also showed molten chocolate being poured inside a sweet milky shell.
-- Galaxy Footwear : Jhoomte kadam
15. Vandevi hing : It featured comedians Tuntun and Mukri (in Rajasthani costume).
16. Forhans :
17. Tomato Puree : Not much about this ad but that it was a Voltas product.
18. VIP Baniyan - Mazboot itni, dara singh Jitni
19. Kajori Kajori - Mashhoor hai naam de araam,
Kajori Kajori Kajori Baniyan
