The ‘Boycott Zomato’ trend became popular on Sunday after two priests from the Mahakal temple in Ujjain demanded that Zomato take down an advertisement featuring Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan in which the actor is seen ordering meals from “Mahakal” because he felt like having a “thali.” The priests claimed that their prasad is distributed to the devotees on a plate, or thali, without charge, and cannot be purchased online or through a food delivery app.
Mahesh and Ashish, the two temple priests, said that Zomato should apologise and immediately remove the advertisement. They also contacted the head of the Mahakal temple trust, Ashish Singh, the district collector for Ujjain, and asked him to take action against the corporation. According to Singh, who was speaking to reporters, the advertisement is “misleading” because the temple provides free meals as “prasad” and does not sell them.
Hrithik Roshan says that he wants to eat “thali” in the advertisement titled “Mann kiya, Zomato kiya.” Since he was already in Ujjain, he asked Mahakal for a thali. One of the twelve “Jyotirlingas” is the Mahakaleshwar or Mahakal temple of Shiva in Ujjain.