Kindle
BoingBoing reader Chris points us to this blast from the online past:"Another corporate '70s Bollywood spoof, this time by Absolut Vodka. ~10 minute film, made in 2002, filmed in India. It's a Bollywood pseudohistory of the mullet. Entertaining enough story (a little long...) - but really well-crafted, with awesome songs and dancing. Low-level product placement - no actual bottles or mention of vodka - but the familiar Absolut shape makes subtle appearances."
The film's hilarious, but -- OMGWTF! Do my own eyes betray me? Look closely at the faux promo poster screengrabbed at left. Is the male lead in Absolut Mulit not wearing a shirt with the exact same pink vomit print that Vivek Oberoi wears in the aforementioned Vanilla Coke Bollywood ad? Perhaps this is a secret, ironic reference to pink vomit couture featured in a real Bollywood film -- and I'm not enough of an Indian cinema buff to get the joke. If any intrepid BoingBoing readers know the answer, do tell.
Link to Absolut Mulit (Flash required), more background on the making of the 12-minute short in this 2003 issue of Fast Company magazine (scroll down to bottom of page).
Update: Reader Manish Vij says, "My brother and I found over 20 Absolut bottle shapes in the Absolut Bollywood parody! They cut the scenes at high speed so you can't tell unless you look carefully. Someone really had fun with this. Go frame by frame in the film. You can grab the play arrow in the QuickTime player and watch it at your own speed." Link to Manish's bottle deconstruction.
Update 2: Regarding the pink shirt enigma, Simon Fodden of Toronto replies, I can't tell you about the vomit pattern, but pink is no big deal in India, for men and for women. Diana Vreeland famously said (back in '62) that pink is "the navy blue of India." And "Pinky" is a name (more of a pet name, really) that both men and women choose or are given. Heck, one Pinky N. Patel got his name (along with a million others) put on the NASA Stardust spacecraft."