Tanishq on Tuesday withdrew its ad showing an interfaith family following a sharp backlash on social media with some accusing the company of promoting 'love jihad' and 'fake secularism'.
The 43 second commercial, which led to the hashtag #BoycottTanishq trending on Twitter, showed a pregnant woman being led to her bridal shower, a Hindu custom called 'godh bharai', by a woman who viewers later realised is her mother-in-law.
While the removal of the ad led to fresh debate on Twitter, Right-wing users sparked a conversation about the anti-Gadar protests because of sindoor.
Sharing video of the controversial scene from Sunny Deol's 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha' and wrote, "This scene in film Gadar (2001), where a Sikh man is shown applying sindoor on a Muslim woman's head to save her life during communal violence, sparked riots across India. Mobs went on a rampage, bombed theatres, burnt vehicles, tried to sever off a policeman's arm."
"Those who are supporting Tanishq Jewelery remember the Gadar movie once about the issue of Love Jihad when they set fire to the cinema hall," wrote another user.
A tweet read: "The film Gadar showed Sikh man applying Sindoor to M woman. What happened next was hurling of petrol bombs at theatres by peaceful. I’m sure “Hindutva bigots” can’t even think of doing this."
In 2001, after the Hindi-language period action drama film - 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha' -- starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel hit the theatres, it attarcked protests from Muslim groups across the country. They had protested against some of the 'objectionable' dialogues and scenes and alleged that Muslims were portrayed in a derogatory manner.
Protests and demonstrations were reportedly carried out in cities of Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Lucknow, Mumbai and the national capital New Delhi.
