Mulit - An Absolut Pictures presentation!

A friend referred me to http://www.absolut.com/. Was browsing through it when I found this series of short movies they're doing and the current one is shot in India and tries to do a Bollywood. The translation for the subtitles is too funny.

It's a spoof on your stereotypical 70's Bollywood movie. There's the not-so-rich but dashing guy who falls in love with this really rich girl, the tyrant father who would not see his daughter marrying a good for nothing ala "Tum ek mahine mein jitna kamate ho, meri beti ek din ke make up pe uda deti hai". Then there's the villain (played by our very own "Dubey-ji") who adds to the confusion......... Made in the same vein as the "Samne yeh kaun aaya" music video, it's full Bollywood Masala compressed into 11 minutes.

And the impressive part is that it's been directected by firangis..... Indian cinema does have it's fans abroad. This is what Absolut says about Mulit:

Shot entirely on location in India, Mulit is set in Bombay during the late 70's and tells the story of how the Mullet haircut came into being. The Bollywood style musical recounts how smooth talking hairdresser Mulit accidentally invents the style, after he falls in love with the prime ministers daughter.

It's interesting to see such a lot of focus on Indian stories and/or Indian themes and/or Indians. It's been around for a while, although a rarity like Peter Sellers playing an Indian in "The Party", but lately, ever since American Desi came out, there's been a spate of movies about Indians abroad like "The Guru", "Bend it like Beckham" or movies made by Indians abroad about Indians in India, like "Monsoon Wedding". Add the whole Punjabi MC bit and you've got a new phase of Reverse Cultural Imperialism happening.

Well, to get back to Mulit, the flick contains a lot of symbolism as well. Look out for the inconspicuous Absolut bottles.

The commercial and short film all feature numerous bottle shapes hidden in the background of the action. Some were shot for real, but approximately 30 bottle shots were added by a team of Mill flame artists. The bottle shapes can be seen in the wallpaper and linoleum flooring and there are also bottle shaped turrets, arches and doorways in the Indian palace.

Get the movie here. And make sure you listen to the song.....Kisko Mulit se pyaar hai!