A television commercial has stirred a controversy between the Indian cricketers, Harbhajan Singh and M.S. Dhoni. Harbhajan through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants has served a legal notice to Vijay Mallya’s UB Spirits for a television commercial for McDowell’s No. 1 Platinum.
A television commercial has stirred a controversy between the Indian cricketers, Harbhajan Singh and M.S. Dhoni. Harbhajan through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants has served a legal notice to Vijay Mallya’s UB Spirits for a television commercial for McDowell’s No. 1 Platinum. The notice claims that the commercial shows Indian skipper Dhoni ‘mocking’ him, his family and the Sikh community.
According to media reports, the notice has been sent by Harbhajan’s mother Avtar Kaur who alleges such commercials cause “disunity and friction” in the Indian team. Advocate Shyam Dewani, one of his lawyers, speaking to NDTV, said more than the cricketer, his family was upset.
ET reports, the legal notice seeks an “unconditional public apology to Bhajji’s family in all widely read newspapers as well as television channels prominently” and withdrawal of the commercial within three days of receiving it.
According to media reports the notice read, “My client is serving you with the instant notice to give you an opportunity to accept your mistake and make amends. Failing this, we will have no other alternative than to take appropriate legal action including that of filing proceedings for defamation, damages and all such civil as well as criminal actions” and was signed by lawyer Shyam Dewani.
The notice also seeks a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to the cricketer’s family towards the cost of the notice.
Harbhajan and Dhoni endorse rival brands. Both Royal Stag and McDowell’s No 1 are competing whiskey brands in the market, coming in the same price band. The commercials are, however, for the soda brands as the commercials for whiskey are not allowed.
Harbhajan’s ad for Royal Stag has the tag-line “Have I made it large?” The Dhoni ad for the McDowell’s has a Harbhajan look-alike asking, “Have I made it large?” and Dhoni says, “Forget large, do something different”. In the Dhoni commercial, the Harbhajan look-alike works in a factory and gets slapped by his father for creating very large iron balls in an attempt to ‘make it large’ at the ball-bearings workshop.
Vijay Mallya, reacting to the legal notice issued to UB Group, has refused to withdraw the controversial commercial.
Mallya told TOI, “It was not meant to attack Harbhajan Singh personally. It was just a spoof between two brands. We have received a long-winded legal notice and our lawyers are studying it. Our lawyers will recommend the next course of action. There are several TV programmes that spoof our politicians. What will happen if all of them start sending legal notices?”