Padmavati row: Here's Amul's take on protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film

As the row over _Padmavati_ has unfolded between Sanjay Leela Bhansali and certain groups like the Rajput Sabha, Karni Sena and Hindu Sena, there have opinions galore over different aspects of the controversy. However, the most pithy take on the issue comes courtesy the latest ad for Amul butter. Amul shared the creative on its official Twitter handle:

#Amul Topical: Mob fury unleashed on films sets and director! pic.twitter.com/pbHfPK6GBm

— Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) February 1, 2017

Over the years, the Amul girl has been a steady presence in the lives of Indians — she stared out at us, from hoardings and magazines, from the newspaper, on websites, and on TV. How did the Amul girl become more than a mascot for an ad campaign? How did the moppet and the cartoons (conceptualised by Mumbai-based daCUNHA Communications) she starred in, transform into social commentary? How did the Amul ads come to voice opinions on events ranging from sports to politics, to controversies that caught the country’s imagination — critical yet neutral, saying what the media couldn’t, but what the public thought? A recent book — Amul India 3.0 published by HarperCollins India — chronicles the metamorphosis of what began as a simple ad campaign for a ubiquitous product like butter, into something that offered a valuable contribution to Indian socio-political discourse. To look at some of Amul’s striking ads over the past 50 years, click here. What do you think of their Padmavati ad?