The Indian subscription-based video and media platform Eros Now is under a lot of fire for their recent post related to Navratri. On Thursday, Eros Now shared a few photos on their social media account. It was an advertisement featuring numerous Bollywood stars such as Ranveer Singh, Salman Khan, and Katrina Kaif. To get into the social media trends of posting content related to the current events for the purpose of marketing, they uploaded photos with numerous quotes.
The one with Katrina Kaif specifically offended the audience. The post stated that ‘Do you want to put the Ratri in my Navratri?’ with Katrina in a yellow saree. It was their way of asking the audience to follow the color code and giving out fashion advice. The text offended many as they said that the company was trying to mock the Hindu culture and its festivals with such statements. Many also started comparing their previous post with respect to Islamic festivals.
. @ErosNow is intentionally sexualising Hindu festivals and traditions while maintaining a totally different approach for non Hindu festivals. I wonder will they sexualise Eid and Ramzan?! #BoycottErosNow
— Arnab Goswami (@arnabofficial9) October 22, 2020
@ErosNow shame on you for such type of advertisement. #BoycottErosNow
— Hemant (@hemant_singh01) October 22, 2020
#BoycottErosNow Stop making fun of my religion 🙏
— Kapil (@KapilSharma27) October 22, 2020
How did different people react to the post of Eros Now?
Arun Yadav, the social media head of the Haryana BJP sector first started to shame the company regarding the post. He posted two pictures of their post taking screenshot and comparing it to show how they respect certain festivals but mock the Hindu culture. Soon after that, many started retweeting and the #BoycottErosNow started trending. Soon after the campaign got into this controversy, Eros Now came forward to apologize to everyone regarding their actions. They stated that their intent was not to offend any sentiment or emotions. They also said that the company loves and respects every culture equally and will never repeat any such mistake again. Ramesh Solanki, who is an activist said that he would be taking legal action against the company for insulting the Hindu religion as many came forward to slam the streaming platform.
— Eros Now (@ErosNow) October 22, 2020
What action did the company take after #BoycottErosNow started trending?
Along with these politicians, our dearest controversy Queen, Kangana Ranaut also came forward saying that the platforms are sexualizing contents for their personal profit, not appreciating the art form of acting. She compared these platforms to Pornhub in her tweet. India is a country which undergoes numerous ethnic and religious conflicts every day. We always try to believe and preach stating there is unity in diversity but that is not the case. People are very sentimental towards their religious beliefs. Especially when talking about Hindu versus Muslim.
We must preserve cinema as a community viewing theatre experience,its more difficult to enthrall large section of audience than sexualise content for personal viewing, digitisation of art faces this major crisis, all streaming platforms are nothing but a porn hub. SHAME @ErosNow pic.twitter.com/qKHde2R4HI
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) October 22, 2020
Every day, the news is flooded with such religious fights which has also led to riots. Communal riots started in 1947 when India got independence. Killing thousands, some of the most infamous riots are the Gujarat communal riots in 1969, Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, Anti-Hindu violence, and many more. Although freedom of speech is a right in the constitution, not many have it when it comes to religious or political statements. Every person and organization should understand how supersensitive people are before taking any kind of action.
