Health

Zomato withdraws Hrithik Roshan ad, apologizes amid backlash

August 22, 2022
Bharat Times

Food tech giant Zomato was recently criticized for its latest ‘Mahakal ki Thali’ ad which allegedly hurt Hindu sentiments. Amid the backlash, the food delivery company issued a clarification saying that they will be withdrawing the advertisement soon. “We offer our sincere apologies as the intention here was never to hurt anyone’s faith and sentiments,” the company said. It all started when Zomato came up with an advertisement in which Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan was seen saying that he felt like having a ‘thali’ in Ujjain, so he ordered it from ‘Mahakal’ restaurant. “I wanted to eat the plate, ordered it from Mahakal,” he said in the advertisement.

The priests of the Shri Mahakaleshwar temple claimed that the advertisement had allegedly hurt Hindu sentiments. For those unaware, the famous Mahakaleshwar temple (dedicated to Lord Shiva) – one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India – is located in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The priests then approached Ujjain Collector Ashish Singh (chairman of the Mahakal Mandir Trust) and demanded action against the food tech giant.

Explaining his use of the word ‘Mahakal’, zomato Said that it refers to ‘Mahakal Restaurant’ and not the sacred ‘Sri Mahakaleshwar Temple’.

“The video is part of its pan-India campaign, for which we identified the top local restaurants and their top cuisines based on popularity in each city,” the company said. It also noted that in research, they found that Mahakal restaurant is one of the “high-order-volume restaurant partners” in Ujjain and “thali” is the recommended item on the menu.

“We deeply respect the sentiments of the people of Ujjain and the advertisement in question is no longer running,” the statement added.

Read also: Hrithik, Katrina to face Zomato for commercials; makes his intention clear

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About Somdutt SahuInvestigator- Somdutt likes to call this himself. In the matter of food, people or places, she only wants to know the unknown. A simple aglio oleo pasta or dal-rice and a good movie can make his day.