Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has landed in controversy once again.
Amidst the legal mess over his divorce with wife Aaliya, a fresh case has been served against him for allegedly hurting Bengali sentiments with his latest soft drink ad.
Recently, the Afwaah actor has been accused of allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Bengali community in his latest Sprite commercial that was originally shot in Hindi.
While no objections were raised against the Hindi version, the Bengali version of the ad didn’t go down well with the audience.
According to ETimes, a Kolkata-based lawyer Divyayan Banerji has filed a complaint in Calcutta High Court against Nawazuddin and the CEO of the Indian version of Coca Cola and cited that the ‘joke’ cracked in the Bengali dubbed version is derogatory and allegedly hurt the Bengali community.
“The main advertisement by Coca-Cola for its product Sprite was in Hindi. And we have no problems with that. We only have a problem with Bengali dubbing of the ad which is running on various TV channels and websites. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is laughing at one of the jokes, which says, ‘shoja anguley ghee na uthley, Bangali khali petey ghumiye porey’. In English, it means that if Bengalis don’t get anything easily, they sleep hungry. And this, we think, hurts the sentiments of the Bengali community. There is nothing offensive in the Hindi advertisement. But it attracts section 66A of the IT Act and also section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. We also want this type of shallow act and gimmicks to not be promoted in the future.”
– Dibyayan, who is also an advocate of the Calcutta HC, said in his complaint.
Banerji further said,“There is nothing offensive in the Hindi advertisement. But it attracts section 66A of the IT Act and also section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. We also want this type of shallow act and gimmicks to not be promoted in the future.”
For the unversed, the ad is based on the famous Bengali idiom that says, “Shoja anguley ghee naa uthley, angul bekate hoy. (If you can’t achieve somehting simply, you have to go beyond to achieve it)”
Reportedly, after the complaint, the company has pulled down the Bengali version of the ad featuring Nawazuddin. They also issued a note in Bengali that said –
“We deeply regret our recent Bengali ad campaign for Sprite and are withdrawing this unintentional mistake from the Bengali media immediately. Our company gives due respect to the Bengali language and takes pride in platforms like Coke Studio Bangla, which attaches great importance to the respect and prestige of our Bengal. We are committed to preserving respect and the heritage of the state through our service, new investments, CSR, and social consciousness.”
