Online food delivery company Zomato has withdrawn the ‘Thali from Mahakal’ ad featuring Hrithik Roshan, and apologised for the same while clarifying that the ‘Mahakal’ in the advertisement referred to a restaurant and not the revered Ujjain-based temple.
Two priests of the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain had objected to the advertisement and demanded its withdrawal. They claimed that since devotees are served prasad on a thali, the ad had hurt the feelings of Hindus. Ujjain collector Ashish Singh, who is the chairman of the Mahakal temple trust, on August 20 termed the advertisement as “misleading”. Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra had issued directives to the police to look into the controversy.
In the ad, Hrithik says, he felt like having a thali in Ujjain, so he ordered it from Mahakal. In a statement issued on Twitter, Zomato said, “Mahakal Restaurant is one of our high-order-volume restaurant partners in Ujjain and its thali is a recommended item on its menu.” The online food delivery company added, “We deeply respect the sentiments of the people of Ujjain, and the ad in question is no longer running. We offer our sincerest apologies, for, the intent here was never to hurt anyone’s beliefs and sentiments.”
