Beef Vindaloo

India’s only Olympics gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra has been signed on for his first television advertisement - but with a twist. Unfortunately for Bindra, the sport he represents has been deemed too violent for television audiences. As a result, he will have to replace his gun with a cricket bat. Bindra has been signed on with spectacle and contact lens company Crissler and will begin shooting his commercial early next month. The shooting champ said he was disappointed with the result of the endorsement but is aware that the only way to appeal to Indian audiences is through cricket and Bollywood. He said that he would rather pick up a cricket bat than dance around trees with a gun.

Rajeev Memohtra, company spokesperson for Crissler said that this was an excellent opportunty for a synergy between the champion and the company and there are no real negatives from the assignment. “You have to realise that we can not show Bindra shooting on television because it would lead to terror in the audiences minds,” Mehmotra said, “and we do not want to get into trouble with the authorities if young children start emulating the action on the screen; this is a happy middle ground.” Bindra said that he was not too concerned with the result of the endorsement even though it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. “Indian audiences are not used to seeing such radical ideas on television so we have to introduce these concepts to them gradually.”

The TV commercial will now have Bindra using the cricket bat to “shoot” out his opponenets on the way to Olympics glory. The company feels that this is an excellent way for them to make people understand what the Olympics is about. “You have to understand that 99% of the Indian population aren’t 100% clear on the concept of Olympics glory,” Mehmotra said, “this way we can establish tha Olympics is a sporting event, similar to cricket.” The commercial is expected to hit screen during the festive season beginning in October.

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