The soft drinks major has grabbed the country-wide sponsorship rights of the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Bade Miyan, Chote Miyan.

Pepsi is also sponsoring the teeny-bopper romance, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai at select cinema theatres, besides promoting the movie's audio track.

Pepsi's involvement with the two movies is related to the actors who play the male leads. Shah Rukh Khan is Pepsi's most favoured and long-time endorser.

The Big B, on the other hand, endorsed Mirinda Lime, a Pepsi brand, in a series of spoofy commercials launched this year.

"Both Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan endorse our products. We have continued our association with the two stars by sponsoring their movies" a Pepsi spokesperson said.

While trade pundits are expecting the two movies to eat into each other's business, Pepsi feels comfortable promoting both the movies.

TheAmitabh-Govinda starrer, a comedy of errors, is in line with Mirinda Lime's brand identity. The movie is expected to appeal to the 25-35 age group, at which the Mirinda Lime brand is targetted.

The teen romance, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is expected to pull-in a younger, college-going crowd which forms the major market for Pepsi cola.

For its sponsorship of Bade Miyan, Chote Miyan, Pepsi has launched a TV commercial which uses footage from the movie to advertise Mirinda Lime. The rights to use the footage were obtained by Pepsi under an agreement with the producers of the movie.

Pepsi has also launched several theme ads promoting the movie, besides sponsoring contests based on the film.

Pepsi is promoting the audio track of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai along with Sony Music. For the Karan Johar-directed film, Pepsi has kept its sponsorship limited to select cinema halls.

Pepsi's strategy of sponsoring Hindi movies and using Bollywood cine star endorsements had paid-off in a big way in India. Thecompany, which launched its product in India with a Juhi Chawla-Remo Fernandes commercial, believes in using Indian concepts and images to promote its brands in the coutnry.

The soft drinks multinational has also successfully used cricket players endorsements to promote its brands in the country.

In the past one year, Pepsi's marketing strategies have been aggressively imitated by rival Coca-Cola, which has used promotions revolving around Hindi movies, cricket and music to promote its brands.