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In today's world where we are bombarded with choices, be it ten different coffee options at a café or endless fizzy cans stacked in a supermarket aisle, it’s hard to imagine longing for a single drink the way our parents or grandparents once did. Back then, relative scarcity bred desire. A chilled glass bottle of cola, a tetra pak of mango juice, or a roadside soda sealed with a marble wasn’t just a refreshment, it was an event.
These brands and beverages, proudly homegrown, carried not just flavour but memory. They defined summers, birthday parties, train journeys, and after-school rituals. Today, when everything feels just a swipe away, it’s worth revisiting the drinks that shaped Indian pop culture. All of these continue to make us all nostalgia merchants by still living on in stories, ads, and the collective tastebuds of generations past.
When I was around 11 years old, I distinctly remember my mother showing me a Gold Spot ad on YouTube — the one with a young man and woman zipping down a road on roller skates, singing its lively jingle. The whole thing felt straight out of 'Grease'. It was the kind of advertisement that made you want to boogie in the summer heat.
Gold Spot itself has an equally vibrant story. Introduced in 1952 by Parle Products, the Indian multinational best known for Parle-G biscuits, this fizzy orange drink was quintessentially Indian. It quickly captured the imagination of children and young people alike. With its collectible cartoons hidden under bottle caps and a distinct tangy taste that ended with a sharp tingle, it kept customers, especially children coming back for more. Gold Spot was discontinued in 2000. Regardless even today, the brand carries remarkable recall value; ask anyone who grew up in the 80s about Gold Spot, and chances are they’ll promptly reply with its unforgettable tagline: “The Zing Thing.”
In 1977, a change in Indian government policy shook the soda industry. Coca-Cola, then the most popular brand in the market, was asked to disclose its “special formula”. As a result, they decided to pull out of the country altogether.
That vacuum was quickly filled by Campa Cola, launched by Pure Drinks, Coca-Cola’s Indian bottling partner. With the same logo font as Coca-Cola’s, the brand proudly positioned itself as homegrown, with the punchline “The Great Indian Taste.” One of its ads even featured a young Salman Khan, barely 15, sailing with friends on a yacht and sipping the drink with carefree joy.
But the tide turned in 2000 when because of liberalisation reforms Coca-Cola and Pepsi returned to India. Their aggressive marketing campaigns quickly overan Campa Cola, and the brand quietly faded from stores.
Decades later, in March 2023, Campa made a grand comeback after being acquired by Reliance Industries. With actor Ram Charan as the face of its relaunch and two new flavours, Campa Orange and Campa Lemon, added to the lineup, the brand is once again hoping to capture the nation’s taste buds.
Introduced in the 1970s by the Pioma Industries, while the fizzy drink market was dominated by players like Gold Spot and Limca, an atypical contender entered the field. This was not a bottled soda, but a soft drink concentrate. For me, Rasna is synonymous with summer. I remember coming home in the afternoons after long hours of badminton or swimming with friends, rushing into the kitchen to prepare a glass — always the mango flavour. Until I was about ten, Rasna was the only thing I was allowed to make in the kitchen without supervision. Then came the ritual: sitting in the living room under the ceiling fan, sipping that tangy sweetness, and watching cartoons. It was pure heaven.
The brand cleverly secured a corner of the market that it continues to dominate to this day. In fact, in 2019, Rasna even expanded with ‘Rasna Buzz,’ a chain of non-alcoholic beverage bars offering desi-inspired mocktails like Mirchi Mango and Kala Khatta Buzz. Through the decades, Rasna has remained proudly homegrown, and much like its iconic tagline, “I love you Rasna!” India continues to love Rasna back.
In every food packet given to students at a school function or even a college fest, nestled under all the potato wafers you will find the omnipresent ‘Frooti’. The brand was the first to use Tetra Pak packaging in the Indian market. This factor appealed to their customers and amplified the brand’s convenience and freshness. Its tetra-paks, with a pair of mangoes against a green background, flew off grocery store shelves, satiating the Indian public’s demand for mangoes beyond the summer season.
Over the years, since its inception in 1985 by Parle Agro, Frooti has managed to retain its charm while adapting to changing times. It roped in Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt as ambassadors, and kept the nostalgia alive for those who grew up with it. Even today, spot someone with a chilled box of Frooti on a hot day, and chances are, it’ll take you right back to your childhood summers.
My father is not a sentimental man, but if we happen to pass by a roadside cart selling goli soda, we have to stop — that’s the rule.
Sold in India since the 19th century, the iconic Codd-neck glass bottles, sealed with a marble to trap the fizz, solidified the beverage as the OG Indian soda long before Coca-Cola lined tuck shop shelves. The drama of opening the bottle, pressing down on the marble with your thumb until it dropped in with a satisfying pop, was as much a part of the experience as the drink itself. Flavours ranged from bright lemon to tangy orange and the ever-popular kala khatta.
An integral part of Indian pop culture, goli soda has seen several revival attempts in recent years, with brands like Dobra Pop Goli, RBB Goli Soda, and Bubbly Goli Soda bringing it to restaurants and retail outlets. Yet in truth, goli soda never really disappeared. A drink like that is a brand unto itself; ever-present in memory and taste.
