Iconic Ads: Cinthol – Body Confidence with Vinod Khanna

A year or so after Imran Khan had endorsed Cinthol, it was Vinod Khanna who reinforced Cinthol as a Macho brand.

Cinthol also signified confidence, with both Imran and Vinod, superstars in their own right. Vinod Khanna’s effortless style and rugged good looks worked to help Cinthol.

Again, it was Shantanu Shorey who created the commercial to establish machismo without the standard bathing scenes, women and other accruements – only Vinod’s inherent masculinity!

Mudra had presented a script to the Godrej’s. The approved storyboard was shown to Shantanu, who frankly voiced his disapproval to Parmeshwar. The story had a family orientation. He suggested that after Imran it would be apt to use another macho man, Vinod Khanna, who coincidentally was a friend of Parmeshwar.

Vinod had decided to get back into films again after his stint with Rajneesh. Even though he was away from the industry, he was still a superstar among the people. His macho, dashing and handsome star had many takers in the film industry and he had signed a few films.

She was thrilled and called Vinod, who agreed too, much to the chagrin of Adi Godrej and Sam Balsara at Mudra since everything was nearly finalized. However, this was sorted as Parmeshwar refused to budge. Godrej had no choice but to go ahead with her recommendations.

Shantanu suggested that Vinod race with a horse on the beach. After a couple of no shows from Vinod for the shoots and finally coming late for a shoot, he finally shot at Juhu beach with Mahesh Aney behind the camera. While shooting, Shantanu asked Vinod if he could mount a bareback horse, to which he replied in the affirmative.

Vinod with his sleeves and denim rolled up, looked like he was having a ball. He looked sexy and confident as he rode the stallion effortlessly, even though mounting a horse in motion is not easy and neither is bareback riding.

The campaign was a hit as Vinod’s charisma and magnetism came through.

Cinthol firmly established itself as a macho brand without trying too hard