‘Who is Sanju?’: Aishwarya Rai's 4-second ad with Aamir Khan had Prahlad Kakkar getting 5,000 calls asking about her

Aishwarya Rai made her Bollywood debut in 1997 with 'Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya', opposite Bobby Deol. But long before hitting the big screen, she had already captured hearts across the nation. In the 1990s, India saw countless memorable advertisements, yet one in particular left an unforgettable mark, a soft drink commercial featuring Aamir Khan and a young Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. At the time, neither was a big star. Aamir Khan had only acted in a few films, and Aishwarya Rai was still a college student. In a recent interview with ANI, ad legend Prahlad Kakkar recalled how a brief four-second appearance of Aishwarya in the 1993 ad captivated the nation and launched her career.

Prahlad Kakkar explained long casting process

Finding the perfect face for the ad was not easy, and the casting team spent months searching. Prahlad recalled the challenge they faced, "The battle was in the casting...It

took us three months to cast that film. We wanted people who were already part of the story. Aishwarya was unknown. We wanted a girl who was a stopper because she comes around for four seconds, and she needs to stop the country in its tracks and wants everyone to say, 'Wow, who is this girl? Who is this girl?' And that's exactly what happened.

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Prahlad Kakkar reveals ad triggered five thousand calls

The reaction to the commercial was immediate and overwhelming. Prahlad shared how people reached out in curiosity the very next day. He said, "The day it was released, I got 5,000 phone calls the next morning saying, Who is Sanju? (Name of Aishwarya's character in the ad) Where did she come from?"

Prahlad Kakkar noted Aishwarya Rai’s eyes captivated him instantly

It was Aishwarya’s unique charm and expressive eyes that truly caught Prahlad’s attention.

He described the moment he knew she was the one for the ad, "I wasn't satisfied with anyone...they just didn't have that quality. It wasn't enough to be special. I was looking for someone extra special. The kind of face that could stop the whole world in four seconds. And then, some girls found her, her jhola slung over her shoulder, dressed in torn jeans, with wild hair.

She was in an Architectural college."Seeing her in person made a lasting impression on Prahlad. "So I saw her and said, Is she it? They said, 'Let's give her a makeup test.'

So what stopped me, what actually made me pause, were eyes. When I looked into her eyes, I saw the entire universe. With each mood, the colour of her eyes changed. The colour changed from grey to green to blue depending on her mood. And that mesmerised me. So we gave her a make-up test and glamorised her.

And we just were gobsmacked. She was just so mesmerising," he shared.

Aishwarya Rai on the work front

Aishwarya Rai was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus 'Ponniyin Selvan II', which also starred Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Sobhita Dhulipala, and Jayaram among others.