The 1990s were an unforgettable era for Indian advertising, giving rise to many commercials that still linger in public memory. Among them, one Pepsi ad from 1993 became truly iconic, featuring a young Aamir Khan and a then-unknown Aishwarya Rai, who would later become one of the most celebrated faces of India. At that time, Aamir was only a few films old and Aishwarya was still a college student studying architecture, far from the glamour of the film world.
In a recent conversation, advertising veteran Prahlad Kakkar shared the fascinating story behind that commercial. He explained that the real challenge of the project lay in finding the right faces. The team spent nearly three months casting for the ad, looking for people who felt real and could fit naturally into the storyline. For the female role, a character who would appear on screen for just four seconds, Prahlad Kakkar needed someone so captivating that the audience would instantly stop and wonder who she was. That, he said, is exactly what happened when the ad aired.
First of all, watch the ad:
Click here to watch this video directly on YouTube
When the commercial was released, the response was overwhelming. Prahlad Kakkar remembered waking up the next morning to around five thousand phone calls, all asking the same question — “Who is Sanju?” referring to Aishwarya’s character in the ad. It was clear that the unknown girl had struck a chord across the country.
Prahlad Kakkar recalled how he first discovered Aishwarya Rai. Nothing about the earlier auditions had impressed him; he wanted someone extraordinary, someone who could hold the nation’s gaze in a matter of seconds. Then one day, his team found a young woman with a bag slung over her shoulder, dressed casually in torn jeans, with wild hair, a student from an architecture college. When he saw her, he immediately felt she might be the one.
What truly convinced him were her eyes. Prahlad Kakkar described them as magnetic, saying that when he looked into them, it felt as if they held entire world within. Her eyes seemed to change color with her emotions, shifting between shades of grey, green and blue, something he found utterly mesmerising. After a quick makeup test, his instincts were confirmed. Once she was in front of the camera, she simply glowed.
The 1993 Pepsi commercial marked Aishwarya Rai’s first brush with national fame, even before she won the Miss India crown in 1994. The ad also featured actress Mahima Chaudhary but it was Aishwarya’s brief appearance that captured the country’s imagination.
What began as a simple cola commercial turned into the launchpad of a superstar, proof that sometimes, just a few seconds on screen are enough to change everything.
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