Here’s how Vikram Batra got his success signal ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’

In June 1999, when Capt Batra was assigned the task of capturing Point 5140, he chose his success signal to be ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ (the heart wants more). Over the years, the slogan has been remembered for the courage and valour of Capt Batra, but it first came to the spotlight as the slogan of beverage brand Pepsi that had made ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ a household chant in the late 90s.

The slogan created by JWT for Pepsi was an instant hit amongst the masses and probably Capt Batra was also captivated by the catchiness of the phrase. After capturing Point 5140, which proved to play a key role in India’s win in the war, Capt Batra told NDTV in an interview, “My company’s success signal was ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’. The guys were so highly charged up that they wanted that more bunkers should have been there and we would have got more chaps.”

The advertisements for Pepsi’s Yeh Dil Maange More campaign captured the imagination of the youth in the late 90s. One of the early ads that left everyone in awe featured Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kajol along with Shahid Kapoor, who was not an actor at the time. The advertisement hit television screens soon after Kuch Kuch Hota became one of the biggest films of the year.

The ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ ad series later had advertisements featuring Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman among other cricketers.

After Vikram Batra immortalised the slogan ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’, it found a place in Indian pop-culture where it rose out of its beverage roots and started representing courage and strength.

Captain Vikram Batra’s biopic Shershaah, starring Sidharth Malhotra in the lead role, is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.