A grovelling apology has been issued to the Hindus in the UK after outrage was expressed over a poster advertising a Bollywood event in Manchester.

The poster,  for a party in February called “Bollywood themed chaos” at the Albert Hall, Manchester, shows the Indian god Shiva smoking and drinking.

The Albert Hall in Manchester has apologised for any offence caused and the picture has now been cropped and only displays the title of the night.

Hiten Mistry, the president of the Kings College London Hindu Society, told student newspaper The Tab:

The Elrow Bollywood picture is disrespectful and insulting to many, including the Hindu community. Shiva is one the principal deities of Hinduism and Elrow has depicted Shiva in an unacceptable manner with a party mask and cigarette.

Also, to use something that many people consider sacred for an event like this is inappropriate. In addition to this, Bollywood and Hinduism are two different things.

The Warehouse Project, The Albert Hall, Elrow and all other stakeholders should publicly apologise for this and should be more culturally aware. This depiction has damaged the brand of The Warehouse Project, The Albert Hall and Elrow. Members of the Hindu and non-Hindu community are angry about this.

Warehouse Project, which runs themed parties at the Manchester Albert Hall have also released an official statement apologising for any offence caused and Elrow, the Spanish company which is organising the event, has responded with an apology as well.

A spokesman for the club said:

We would like to apologise to anyone offended by the Elrow Bollywood artwork released yesterday. We have taken onboard the feedback and changed the Bollywood artwork across the board.

Carys Williams wrote on Twitter:

Just put my @elrow_ t shirt in the bin after that Bollywood poster sham. The ignorance and disrespect is beyond belief.

And Paula Pomroy said:

Elrow going to have a nightmare over their Bollywood event picture. I don’t follow any religion but if I did I would have been offended too.

Shiva – a supreme being in Hinduism – is believed to hold the power to create and transform the universe. He was depicted with a chicken beak with a cigarette hanging out his mouth.

The deity is also shown holding a mobile phone with an open Champagne bottle with “elrow” written across the top plus an inflatable hammer.

He is also surrounded by other images of a flamingo, an oil lamp and a tiger with a eye patch.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn