Why Alia Bhatts new ‘Kanyaadaan’ ad is receiving flak

Wedding couture brand Manyavar Mohey’s latest ad featuring Alia Bhatt has received backlash for its concept revolving around ‘Kanyaadaan’. The ad celebrates ‘brides of today’ with a ‘modern twist.

Alia Bhatt plays a bride sitting at the mandap and talking about the old tradition of Kanyaadaan. Kanyaadaan is a Hindu tradition where a daughter is given away by her father at the wedding. In the ad, Alia Bhatt says that instead of kanyadaan, there should be kanyamaan. 

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Among the ones criticising the ad for its approach, many have roasted it for questioning the old Hindu practice. Jumping on to the bandwagon was Kangana Ranaut who reviewed the ad. Sharing a post on Instagram she captioned it, “Humble request to all brands ….. don’t use religion, minority, majority politics to sell things …. Stop manipulating naive consumer with shrewd divisive concepts and advertising… #mohey @aliaabhatt @moheyfashion @stylebyami.”

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In her post, Kangana Ranaut wrote, “We often see a martyr’s father on television, when they lose a son on the border, they roar ‘Don’t worry, I have one more son, uska bhi daan main iss dharti Maa ko dunga. Kanyadan ho ya putradan, the way society looks at the concept of (lack of equivalent word in English or Urdu using) renunciation shows its core value system…”

In her rant, she said it was time to bring back Ram Rajyan, “When they start to look down upon the very idea of Daan…Then you know it is time for the reestablishment of Ram Rajya…The king who renounced everything he ever loved only to live the life of a Tapasvi (monk) Please stop mocking Hindus and their rituals….Dharti and women both are mothers in scriptures they are worshipped as the goddesses of fertility…Nothing wrong in seeing them as precious and very source of existence (Shakti).”