broken down vintage Beetle, spewing smoke in the background. A damsel, obviously in distress, seductively sticking her thumb out asking for a lift, in the fore. A setting typical of countless automobile and lubricant ads. But in a typical ad the hero would ride or drive into the scene, in his preferred car or his well-lubed vehicle that would never let him down, to save her day. Not so in the new ad for Bharat Petroleum�s (BPCL) MAK 4T.

In this case, the knight in shining armour is literally so - it being not the biker, but the biker�s steel steed. So there�s the damsel, in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be rescued when a biker rides into the frame. But instead of slowing down and picking her up, he simply passes on, much to the chagrin of the lady. Even as she is recovering from the rebuff, she catches sight of the bike making its way back - sans the biker. It�s evident that though the biker was not shot in his tracks, the bike apparently was. And it�s back to charm her. The song Jawani Janeman (from the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer, Namak Halal) plays aptly in the background as it invites her to hop on. ... more