Top 10 Indian celebrities and their cells

In a celebrity crazy country, where the stars are worshipped and revered as gods, it does not come as a surprise that the trend for celebrity endorsement has moved rapidly from fashion to technology. Whether it is Bipasha Basu scintillating the screen with a Wynncom Mobile phone or Amitabh Bachchan reaching out to its fans with a zen mobile in hand, mobile companies are increasingly seen roping in celebrities as their brand ambassadors. According to a market research company the ownership and application endorsements are either extremely or very important to nearly 30 percent of consumers when deciding what product to buy. Whether the companies get their money's worth for investing in these expensive celebrities is hard to gauge but what is certain that they will continue to empty their pockets to rope in a hot celebrity.

We bring you some of the most famous celebrities and their mobile phone endorsements in recent years. While some endorsements we could chew on, others we found really hard to digest.

Amitabh Bacchan - Zen Mobiles

The Big B of the Indian cinema has endorsed a whole gamut of products from chocolates to cars. Standing for his "mass appeal", the 68-year-old actor was roped in by Zen Mobiles last year as its brand ambassador. “I hope my association with the brand will take it closer to people and they would be able to appreciate the brilliance and innovation of its handsets,” said Amitabh in a press statement in 2010. According to report the fatherly figure of the Indian cinema charges between Rs.50 million and Rs.120 million for his endorsements. We hope Zen mobiles which caters to the lower end segment of the mobile phones market has been able to reach it to its masses.  But what we find hard to digest is that does Amitabh really use Zen?

Shahrukh Khan - Nokia

After the big B we have the big S of the Indian cinema. Sharing similar popularity ranks Shahrukh Khan is another celebrity that has a mass appeal and can sell ( read: sold) toothpaste to a Nokia E7 and well everything in between. At the launch of the Nokia E7, SRK told the mediapersons, "I cannot take a brand forward. Just because my face is there, people are not going to use it." We are quite positive that it is exactly why Nokia has signed you to endorse their brand. 




Amir khan  - Samsung

Samsung a technology leader in the Indian Mobile market appointed Aamir Khan as its Brand Ambassador for Samsung Mobile Phones in India in 2008. Now that's a different story altogether that the superstar was sued by a fan for endorsing faulty Samsung cellphones. In his statement the disgruntled fans had said, “I am a fan of Aamir Khan and I believed his claim (advertisement) and bought the handset." Now only if Mr. Khan would have used the phone, would he have realized the issue too.




Bipasha Basu and Saif Ali Khan Wynncom Mobile

Now this is one of our favorite ads. The sizzling bollywood diva, Bipasha Basu was roped in to sell these budget handsets. This is what Ms. Basu had to say, “I chose to be associated with Wynncom because I feel that this brand reflects my attitude in life. Like me it symbolizes a will to succeed and a passion to go beyond the ordinary.”  Did you rofl? We surely did. We haven't seen Ms Basu in the recent Wynncom ads, so we presume she doesn't feel the same association anymore.

Wmynncom also roped in Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan for his popularity with the youth. We do find it hard to believe that a actor which is speculated to be grossing a astronomical sum of money, settles done for a phone which costs less than Rs 5,000.

Kareena Kapoor - Sony Xperia X10

While the boyfriend Saif is selling Wmynncom , the glamorous girlfriend is seen sporting the Sony Ericsson company. She was last seen during the launch of SE's Xperia X10. When Kareena said, " I love my new feature rich Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 that allows me to easily keep in touch with my family and friends, while keeping myself entertained on the go"  - We believe her and the the sources who hint the big molar she got after being signed up.



Akshay kumar - Micromax

Bollywood’s favorite comedy and action hero Akshay Kumar sports the popular telecom major Micromax. Akshay who is seen endorsing Thumbs Up, Levis, X-Box 360 and several other products was signed on for his ‘instant connect’ with the classes and masses. According to sources the ‘instant connect’ abilities, cost Micromax some ‘macro' money in remuneration.

Twinkle Khanna - Micromax Bling 2

Akki ke saath twinkle free. Well the company has to be given credit to bring Twinkle Khanna back in limelight with Micromax Bling 2. Well if one would have done movies like she did, they would be hibernating too. Well nevertheless the star looked good and hopefully the company got a deal roping in both the husband and wife duo.




Priyanka chopra - Nokia

Priyanka was roped in to be the brand ambassador of Nokia to create a deeper connect with its young and style-savvy consumers. Launched with the tagline  'it's not just a phone; it's who we are', Priyanka like its other celebrities failed a buzz for the phones, and as the celebrities fill in the coffers, Nokia continues to struggle in retaining its market share.




Sonam Kapoor - Spice

The daughter of the ageless wonder and we really mean that - can you believe Anil Kapoor is 51? While Sonam's career may have failed to launch her career in movies, the actress seemed to have created a recognition through Spice mobiles ads. The company is rumored to have replaced their initial choice of Katrina with Sonam and we quite know the reason why.

Do you pick mobile phones your favourite celebrities endorse?