An old Amul advertisement featuring actor and former Indian National Congress (INC) member Urmila Matondkar has resurfaced with claims that the dairy brand has taken a dig at Matondkar following her remarks against actor Kangana Ranaut.
The advertisement features the iconic Amul girl in an avatar inspired by Matondkar's spunky character in the movie 'Rangeela', along with the text that says, 'Not MASOOM anymore?'
However, netizens who mistook the ad for being recent have slammed Amul for what they call a 'distasteful' ad.
Ranaut and Matondkar have been sparring over the former's criticism of the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government in the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's case. Ranaut even referred to Matondkar as a 'soft porn actor' in a recent interview.
BOOM reached out to Rahul Da Cunha, one of the creators of Amul advertisements, who clarified that the hoarding was created as a tribute to Ram Gopal Varma's 'Rangeela', which released in 1995.
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Below is a screenshot of a tweet, featuring the advertisement, that was shared by journalists Sreenivasan Jain and Deepanjana Pal. The tweets were later deleted after netizens pointed out that it is from 1995.
Click here to view an archive of journalist Swati Chaturvedi's tweet. Chaturvedi later deleted her tweet.
The advertisement is also doing the rounds on Facebook
FACT CHECK
We found the same image in Amul's archive in an album titled 'Amul hits of 1995'
'The advertisement was released in 1995 after Rangeela's release'
BOOM reached out to Rahul Da Cunha, one of the creative directors of the Amul advertisements since 1994, who confirmed that the advertisement was released in 1995 after Rangeela hit theatres. It was created by cartoonist Jayant Rane in the same year. Da Cunha said, "This advertisement has been taken completely out of context by trolls. This is an old feature we did in 1995," Da Cunha said. Amul is known for topical ads that they release on several platforms featuring the Amul girl, part of the butter brand's campaign since 1966.
Rangeela, starring Urmila Matondkar, Jackie Shroff and Aamir Khan, released in 1995. The film was directed by Ram Gopal Varma and was considered to be one of the major box office success of that year. It also marked Urmila Matondkar's arrival in a new avatar. Varma tweeted the same advertisement earlier this month.
The text 'Not MASOOM anymore?' refers to Shekhar Kapur's film Masoom, where the actor featured as a child star, clarified Da Cunha.
Matondkar and Ranaut's war of words
Kangana Ranaut and Urmila Matondkar sparred after the latter asked Ranaut to introspect about the drug culture in her home state of Himachal Pradesh before leveling allegations against Maharashtra and Mumbai's film industry. To this Ranaut launched a personal attack by referring to Matondkar as a 'soft porn actor' in an interview with Times Now. Ranaut further referred to actor Matondkar for 'not being known for her acting' skills.
