Viral Amul ad featuring Urmila Matondkar is from 1995, Anurag Kashyap and Ram Gopal Varma clarify

An Amul advertisement featuring Urmila Matondkar is being widely circulated online. Many took to Twitter to share the ad, which suggests that the actor isn’t ‘masoom (innocent)’ anymore, believing it to be a veiled dig at Urmila, who has been in the news for her spat with Kangana Ranaut.

Fact-checking website Boom Live reported that the ad was in fact created in 1995. Rahul Da Cunha, one of the creators of Amul advertisements, told the website that it was created as a hoarding to celebrate the success of Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela. The ad made a reference to the film Masoom, in which Urmila appeared as a child artiste. “This advertisement has been taken completely out of context by trolls. This is an old feature we did in 1995,” Da Cunha said.

Ram Gopal Varma corroborated the fact when he shared the ad on September 11. “Amul hoarding after RANGEELA released @UrmilaMatondkar,” he wrote.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap wrote in a tweet, “If I am Not mistaken , this came out when ‘Rangeela’ released and not now. And it was based on the fact that Urmila was the child actor in ‘Masoom’. It was meant to be an appreciation . Now misused by trolls after the current scenario.”

Earlier this week, actor Kangana Ranaut in a television interview to Times Now called Urmila a ‘soft porn star’ who is ‘not known for her acting’. This led to several Bollywood personalities condemning Kangana’s comments and standing up in support of Urmila. “@UrmilaMatondkar you are a legend. #Rangeela was a treat visually,emotionally and you raised the bar for all of us in so many ways. You left us all,co-actors and an entire generation of movie goers awestruck! Sensuality & dignity.. two qualities you combined & embodied. Respect!” filmmaker Pooja Bhatt wrote.

Also read: Urmila Matondkar reacts to Kangana Ranaut’s ‘soft porn star’ insult: ‘Will those who opposed Shiv Sena’s slur for Kangana, condemn this too?’

Urmila, responding to Kangana’s comment, told journalist Barkha Dutt, “It just goes to show where we stand, and that is precisely what I have been trying to say, that if you have a viewpoint, by all means you have a right to express it. But it just that the way you express it and how you express it does matter.”

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