The voice behind the Tanishq Ad was that of Divya Dutta. Divya Dutta has responded to a twitter user who said that it was wrong.
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)!”
Dutta was also upset with the companies decision to take the ad down.
The 45 second ad features a Muslim family with a Hindu bahu. They celebrate their Hindu daughter in law’s baby shower in accordance to hindu rituals in respect to her heritage.
The ad faced severe backlash with many calling it out for promoting ‘Love Jihad’
Love Jihad is a derogatory term for Hindu-Muslim marriage.
While the backlash was severe, there was a section of people who whole heartedly supported the ad.
Calling it beautiful and meaningful, it celebrated India as it is supposed to be. Secular.
Famous personalities got involved the reactions was divided.
People like Shashi Tharoor, Journalist Rajdeep Sirdesai, Actress Swara Bhaskar and others hailed the ad for its sweet and loving message of acceptance. Kangana Ranaut and Arnab Goswami slammed it for apparently promoting love jihad and sexism.
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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.”
Divya Dutta is know for her acting chops and has done some great work in the industry.