Movie star Akshay Kumar has landed into hot soup for featuring in a government advertisement that seeks to highlight the importance of airbags in automobiles, however, can widely be perceived as indirectly promoting the social evil of dowry.
The advertisement shows Kumar dressed up as a Sikh policeman watching a family bidding goodbye to their recently married daughter.
The scene cuts to Kumar walking up to the sobbing father of the bride and criticising the car in which the bride is to depart.
When the father begins to defend the car by mentioning its features, Kumar interrupts him midway educating him on the importance of six airbags, rather than just two that the car is equipped with, and how they can prevent fatal accidents.
The scene then shifts to the newlyweds entering a new car that has six airbags (the groom can be seen counting) followed by Kumar saying, “You should smile now that your daughter is safe.”
The advertisement received flak from Twitteratis who find it problematic on many levels. Firstly, the idea of the bride’s father mentioning the features of the first car indicates that the car is a “gift”.
“Gifts” are often considered shadow dowries as grooms and their families get away from the Dowry Prohibition Act.
The advertisement was tweeted by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. It has currently garnered 9,26,000 views on Twitter alone.
It has aroused strong reactions with many asking for immediate removal of the ad.
Recently the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report was released that stated that 6,753 women lost their lives to dowry-related harassment in 2021. There is a 15% increase in dowry-related crimes in India when compared to last year, 2020.
