Recently, the one-and-a-half minute long advertisement for a Kerala-based jewellery chain featuring Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter, Shweta, came under heavy fire from a bank union which termed it as "disgusting" and said it was aimed at creating distrust in the banking system.

After the uproar, Kalyan Jewellers withdrew the advertisement. In a statement, the Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers, Ramesh Kalyanaraman said, "We sincerely regret the inadvertent hurt caused and withdraw the advertisement from all media with immediate effect. We understand that the advertisement has hurt sentiments of some people including members of our esteemed banking community. Any such hurtful interpretation being drawn is unintended.

We state that the creative advertisement was a work of fiction and not a reflection of banking employees at large.

Along with crores of Indians, we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the banking community to our country."

Last week, All India Bank Officers' Confederation, an organisation claiming to have membership of around 3,20,000 officers, threatened to sue Kalyan Jewellers accusing it of "casting aspersion and hurting the sentiments of millions of personnel" through the advertisement.

AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta said that the theme, tone and tenor of the ad were "disgusting, derogatory, to say the least and is aimed to create distrust in the banking system, for pure commercial gain."

Kalyan Jewellers rejected the allegation, saying it was "pure fiction."

"We understand that your esteemed association feels that the bankers have been portrayed in bad light. We state it on record that it is a pure fiction and at no point we have intended to generalize the bank officers at large," Kalyan Jewellers said in a letter to Datta.

"Please accept our unconditional disclaimer for the same. We shall within three working days from today add 'characters and situations depicted are fictional. The brand does not intend to disrespect or malign any person or community' before the advertisement," it said.

The advertisement features Bachchan as an old man and Shweta Bachchan Nanda as his daughter.

In the ad, Bachchan is portrayed as a person with integrity and honesty. He is seen visiting a bank branch along with his daughter to return the extra money credited in his pension account and has a bitter encounter with bank employees in the process.

Demanding an unconditional apology from the jewellery group, the AIBOC said if the advertisement was not withdrawn, suitable "organisational action, including dharnas and litigation" would be initiated.

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