Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar and Indian washing powder company Nirma are being lambasted on social media for insulting Maratha culture and Maratha warriors.
A police complaint has also reportedly been registered against Kumar in Mumbai for allegedly defaming Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in an advertisement.
The complainant, named Suryakant Jaggannath Jadhav, has urged the police to take action against the Bollywood star and company for hurting the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra.
The ad in question shows Kumar as a Maratha king, who can be seen dancing and washing his soiled clothes after coming home from a war.
The ad seems to have hurt the sentiments of India’s Marathi-speaking people from western Maharashtra state who revere the warrior for waging war against the Mughals and expanding the reins of the Maratha Empire in the western Deccan Plateau, which was largely dominated by Mughals.
Netizens have called for a boycott of the washing powder “Nirma” and slammed Kumar for portraying the Maratha warrior in a “comic and cheap way”. Some also demanded the advertisement's withdrawal from all media platforms and a public apology.
Earlier, the Deepika Padukone film Padmavati became embroiled in a major controversy after several organisations of Rajputh castes including Shri Rajput Karni Sena held protests and vandalised film sets, forcing the makers to delete a certain scene and change the name of the film from "Padmavati" to "Padmavat".