At first sight, this private bus in Kerala with really bold and flashy pictures can pass off as just another private transporter with maybe a fascination for, perhaps, not-so-famous Hollywood stars. Finding paintings or images of film stars on buses is a common phenomenon in our country. Except, if you notice closely, the people painted on this bus in Kerala are quite famous – specifically among fans of the adult entertainment industry.
The vehicle, which is run by Chikkoos Tours and Travels has images of famous adult film stars like Keiran Lee, Ava Addams, Johnny Sins, Jordi and former adult stars like Mia Khalifa and Sunny Leone on the exterior. It has not only grabbed eyeballs in the state but netizens across the country, who have been posting about it on social media platforms and rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
So who owns the bus?
Chikkoos Tours and Travel is owned and run by Ambadi Travel that operates out of Thiruvananthapuram. The owner, Sherin, said that this particular bus is meant exclusively for college students. "The new bus Chikkoos Viswamithra edition started running on the road since the last month. We offer college tour packages to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mysuru among other places," he says.
The bus is a complete package, it’s not just the exterior of the vehicle– even the interior is jazzed up to cater to a young clientele. Besides the neon-embedded lighting to decorate the interior of the bus, there is also a music system. It is also fitted with a disco-light-chandelier.
The Viswamithra graphics cost around 2 lakhs, 5-6 lakhs for lights and audio. added Sherin. The pictures of the adult film stars have been painted by a Thrissur based caricature artist named Rithesh.
"Knowing my passengers, who are mainly the youth, they would like to have fun and entertainment en-route. The music and neon lighting interior is designed keeping these ideas in mind," he says.
Targetting the young crowd
Sherin explains that in order to provide a complete package to the young clientele, he came up with this idea. "Many of the students during tours hang flexes and posters on the back of the buses, these posters include the images of famous porn stars. From this, we came up with the idea to paint the images of these stars on the bus. It's a part of our marketing strategy, our main target is college students, to get there attention we need something they prefer, we have put a lot of thought into this and our best people worked for this. We had conducted surveys among students regarding their opinions about this and I must say I was surprised by the positive results," Sherin says.
He also adds "If one can put pictures of film stars, politicians and sports personalities on buses, why not carry images of these adult film actors, who are quite famous among people," Sheril pointed out.
