As I settled to another boring day at office, one of my colleagues came up to greet another guy sitting right behind me, and started to poke fun at him, singing a song I heard aeons ago: "Padhna likhna seekho, o mehnat karne walo..." I stooped doing whatever I was busy with, and looked back with a confused/amused look on my face... Trying to remember the song. And then I remembered: not only this song, but many other old, forgotten jingles/ad songs...
Jab main chhota bachcha tha,
badi sharart karta tha,
meri chori pakdi jaati,
jab roshni deta bajaj...
Kya rangeen jawani thi
ek raja ek rani thi
(something something something something)
roshni deta bajaj!
Ab main bilkul buddha hoon
Goli khakar jeeta hoon
Lekin aaj bhi ghar ke andar
roshni deta bajaj!!
(gosh we kids have had so much fun with this one..!!)
Vicco turmeric, nahin cosmetic
Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream
kil muhason ko jad se mitayein
haldi chandan ke gun isme samayein
twacha ki raksha kare ayurvedic cream
Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream!
(Wow I actually remember the whole thing!)
Then there was this United cooker wala ad, where this guy has his boss coming over for dinner, and needs to impress him for a promotion. So the wife cooks food in United cooker... Khaye jao khaye jao United ke gun gaye jao... United ne kar diya kamal, mili tarakki, (something something)..
Of course how can we forget the epic ad: Pan pasand, where this gal is being asked to get married but she doesn't want to marry the guy who has come to see her... "Shaadi... aur tumse?? Kabhi nahin!!" Or Pan Parag "Baratiyon ka swagat pan parag se kijiye"... they also had that one ad, where this guy Jalal Agha guy is at a party, where everyone is asking him for Pan Parag, and he keeps giving one packet to them; until he meets this 7 foot tall guy who asks "mera kya hoga"....
I also remember this ad... atleast this line.. Where this woman (was it the Deepti "Sita" female? Im not sure..) says about nirma washing bar (I think) "Ab aap samjhe, maine yeh tikiya kyun li?"
I had a special place for this in my heart cuz my dad used to say for me, whenever he was proud of any of my achievements " Ab aap samjhe, maine yeh Bitiya kyun li!!"
Im sure we all remember the "bhool na jana, ECE bulb lana.." or " kuch lete kyun nahin, Coldarin li?" or maybe " Bechara, kaam ke bojh ka mara, inhe chahiye Cinkara!" And above all, the eternal jingle "Lifeboy hai jahan, tandurusti hai wahan!"
There were some cute ads, like the Dhara ad where that lil kid runs away from home, only to come back for yummy homemade jalebis; or the "I Love you Rasna" series, Cadbury Ads (the woman dancing in the middle of the cricket ground, or the kya swad hai zindagi mein one... Beautiful!!), Lijjat Papad, Mugli Ghutti 555 (aha meethi meethi!) Lalita Ji's ads...I can go on and on and on!
Then there was Dabur Lal Dant Manjan, TT underwear (khel kood ya PT), Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul, Shilpa Char chand lagaye, Santoor: Meri twacha se meri umra ka pata hi nahin chalta, MDH Masale sach sach, Tobu Cycles... and ofcourse... the VIP Ad with the guy in his undies saving a damsel in distress... or the "Whats he got that I aint got" Ad... hmmmm.... ;)) There was another ad, an anti smoking ad... with a cigarette in my hand, i felt like a man! I also remember one Phillips ad where a guy is trying to serenade his girlfriend by singing a song on a guitar: only he is lip syncing to a song playing on his Phillips player, and he is caught braying like a donkey, strumming randomly on the guitar when he accidentally switches the player off!!
Ofcourse no one can forget the unforgettable Titan ads, especially the Titan tune: simply awesome!
But yes, my personal favourite was the Captain Cook namak ad, with Sushmita Mukherjee aka Lily of Karamchand fame, comparing Captain Cook namak with her manpasand namak.
No need to remind you of the "Ek chidiya, anek chidiya" song... or "Mile sur mera tumhara"... they rock!!!
Ol' Ads... ol' memories... ol' days... simple ideas... cute stories... catchy jingles... mass appeal... Those were the times.... Aaj kal ke jhakaas ads may come and go, but we will fondly remember these ol ones forever!!
