Beverage Ad Featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui Irks Kolkata Lawyer For Hurting Bengali Sentiments; Files Petition

New Delhi: An advocate at the Calcutta High Court found the ‘joke’ cracked in a beverage advertisement featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui derogatory and as hurting the Bengali community, so he filed a police complaint against the actor and the international beverage giant in Kolkata.

As per the complaint of the petitioner Dibyayan Banerji, the main advertisement by the beverage giant was in Hindi and he has no problems with that. However, the Bengali dubbing of the ad which was running on several TV channels and websites didn’t go well with many Bengalis.

In the video, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui can be seen laughing at one of the jokes, which says in Bengali, ‘shoja anguley ghee na uthley, Bangali khali petey ghumiye porey’. In English, it means that Bengalis sleep hungry if they don’t get anything easily. This portion of the dialogue has sparked controversy.

The ad is based on the popular Bengali idiom which says: “Shoja anguley ghee na uthley, angul bekatey hoy”. It means that if you can’t achieve something simply, you have to go beyond to achieve it.

According to Dibyayan Banerji, the Bengali version attracts section 66A of the IT Act and also section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. He also claimed this type of shallow act and gimmicks should not be promoted in the future, ETimes reported.

The advertisement had to be pulled from TV and social media platforms. In response, the beverage giant wrote in Bengali on Twitter, “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.”