No longer. For the first time, Seagram has decided to associate one of its brands with Bollywood kitsch. ``We realise that Hindi movies are the perfect vehicle for mass entertainment. As our brand, Imperial Blue, is targetted at the middle class, the brand ties up well with movie promotions,'' said Ashok Swarup, president, Seagram Manufacturing Ltd. Seagram Manufacturing Ltd is the fully-owned Indian subsidiary of Canadian liquor giant Seagram.

Seagram has especially developed the Imperial Bluebrand for the Indian market. Priced at around Rs 225 per 750 ml bottle, IB will be the lowest priced of all Seagram brands.

In fact, IB is Seagram's focus brand for this fiscal. Though the movies through which Seagram will promote IB are yet to be identified, Seagram marketing director Sanjiv Vohra says that the movies will fall in the ``light and romantic'' category along the lines of last year's runaway success Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

As existing regulations prohibit Seagram from directly sponsoring a movie, only special screenings and premiers will be organised by Seagram.The company is also exploring another association for IB: this time, with music. The music nights for IB will cater to regional tastes and will show-case regional artists, says Vohra.

Seagram has already experimented with the music bandwagon -- which has paid off. The company has organised `smooth and bumpy' music nights to promote the `Seagram's Extra Dry Gin' -- the smooth drink in the bumpy bottle. The music nights, one ofwhich was conducted by MTV VJs Cyrus Broacha and Amrita Arora at Tollygunge Club, proved a runaway success, maintain company officials.

Seagram ended 1997-98 with a sale of over a million cases. The company, which entered the Indian market in 1993, has so far been functioning with a single distillery and bottling unit located at Daurala, Uttar Pradesh. With its presence in just the premium segments of the liquor market, the company has managed to meet market demand with a capacity of 5,000 kilolitre.

However, as it is now stepping into the middle-level segment of the market it plans to double capacity with the commissioning of its distillery and bottling unit at Nashik in the next two months. Seagram also imports its international scotch whiskey brands, `Chivas Reagal' and `Glenlivet' into India.