Complaint filed against Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his Sprite ad for ‘hurting’ Bengali sentiments

A police complaint has been filed against the CEO of Coca-Cola India and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Bengali community. The actor recently featured in an ad for the soft drink Sprite which was originally shot in Hindi. No objection was raised on the Hindi version. However, an advocate has filed a complaint raising issues over the Bengali dubbed version.

As reported by Live Mint, an advocate of the Calcutta High Court, Dibyayan Banerji, who is also the petitioner, said, “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.”

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.”

The dubbed version of the ad allegedly has a joke which means “If they can’t take the ghee out with a straight finger, Bengali sleep hungry.”

Reportedly, the Bengali version has been taken down by the company and said in a note that it “regrets the recent ad campaign for the cold drink and that the company respects Bengali language.”

On the work front, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has two releases – Sudhir Mishra’s Afwaah and Jogira Sa Ra Ra. Afwaah stars him alongside Bhumi Pednekar and is slated for a theatrical release on May 5. It also features actors Sumit Kaul, Sharib Hashmi, Sumeet Vyas, TJ Bhanu and Rockey Raina in important roles. He also has Kushan Nandy’s Jogira Sa Ra Ra and Noorani Chehra alongside Nupur Sanon.
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