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Once upon a hairy tale: Bipasha Basu and John Abraham at a promotional event of the shampoo in 2005

Hindustan Lever wants us to buy its new Clinic All Clear Men’s Shampoo, but the company feels it is not answerable to the consumer. So much so, that it does not want to tell us why Bipasha Basu has been replaced with an unknown model in their latest ad film starring John Abraham.
Could it possibly have anything to do with the on-again off-again relationship between the couple?

The brand’s manager Sunil Saraf tries to steer clear of the controversy when we ask him about Bips’ replacement, adding that he can’t even tell us the model’s name. “Bipasha was not included in the new ad because this is a men’s shampoo and we only required John. In the previous ads, John and Bipasha were selling a unisex product together,” he says.

Not answerable

But that doesn’t change the fact that a female model is still part of the new ad with John. What difference does it make if it is Bipasha or a new face? Saraf fumbles, “Please ask Kunal, who is the main person at Lowe Lintas and the creative brain behind this ad.”

Kunal is very rude when we call him about the story. He says he will not reveal who the new girl is or the reason why Bipasha is not part of the new campaign. “I am not answerable to you about any such questions,” he says curtly.

But an industry source spills the beans to HiTLIST, saying, “They don’t want to portray forced chemistry between John and Bipasha on screen. However hard they may try to appear in love, their chemistry will look phony and the public knows this relationship is over. Keeping all this in mind, Hindustan Lever didn’t want them to shoot together. They are a very image conscious company and signed John and Bips because they were a celebrity couple.”

The buzz is that John and Bipasha’s contract for the shampoo ads is valid till the end of 2007. Shedding light on the status quo between the couple as far as endorsements are concerned, the source says, “As things stand today, John and Bipasha won’t shoot any ads together, at least not for Clinic All Clear. Bipasha too has shot a solo campaign for the brand, so it’s obvious that getting them together is a remote possibility now.”

He adds that even if the couple does get back together, it is going to be a while before that happens. “John has been sending out strong feelers and Bips has finally succumbed to taking his calls again. She loves him very much, so it isn’t easy to ignore him completely. She is very confused.”