Divya Dutta, who lent her voice to withdrawn Tanishq ad, reacts to its removal: ‘Don’t we all promote brotherhood?’

Actor Divya Dutta, who lent her voice to a controversial Tanishq advertisement, has said that she is saddened by the company’s decision to pull it down after online backlash. The 45-second ad featured a Muslim family celebrating a traditional South Indian baby shower ceremony for their pregnant daughter-in-law.

Answering a Twitter user’s question if it was indeed her voice in the ad, she wrote, “Yes it’s my voice. It s sad it’s taken off air. I loved it.” When another Twitter user wrote that they had ‘nothing against her’, but ‘but wrong is wrong’, Divya responded, “But sir don’t we all promote brotherhood?? We as India are all about that. That’s our soul sir. Unity in diversity bachpan mein sunte the. Aise to kitne ads hote the. Koi kuch nai kehta tha.. par chalein sabke apne vichar (We used to be told of our unity in diversity. There are so many other ads that no one comments about, but to each his own)!”

Tanishq in a statement said that it pulled the ad “keeping in mind... the well-being of our employees, partners and store staff.” The statement read: “The idea behind the Ekavatam campaign is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness. This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective. We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff.”

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Also read: Tanishq ‘deeply saddened’ by reactions to ad: Kangana Ranaut claims it promotes ‘love jihad’, Swara Bhasker rues ‘fragile spine’

The advertisement attracted conflicted reactions from people on social media. While actor Kangana Ranaut claimed that it promoted ‘sexism’ and ‘love jihad’, others such as Richa Chadha and Swara Bhasker were against its removal. Author Chetan Bhagat commented, “Dear #tanishq, most people attacking you can’t afford you anyway. And given where their thinking will take this economy, they soon won’t have jobs and hence definitely won’t able to buy anything from #tanishq in the future too. Don’t worry about them.”

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