Was Amul girl inspired by Shashi Tharoor’s sister Shobha? The brand sets the record straight

For decades, the blue-haired little girl in a red polka-dotted dress has been India’s most beloved mascot. 

The Amul Girl, cheeky and witty in her “utterly butterly” ads, has charmed generations. But recently, a viral claim linked her origins to none other than Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s family.

It all began when marketing consultant Dr. Sanjay Arora shared a reel on Instagram, suggesting that the Amul Girl was modelled on Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan, Shashi Tharoor’s sister, as a baby. The video not only traced the history of Amul’s marketing genius but also pointed to a photograph of Shobha, reportedly clicked by filmmaker Shyam Benegal, as the inspiration behind the mascot. The reel exploded online, crossing 1.8 million views, and even drew a response from Shobha herself.

“Received a charming reel posted by @chiefsanjay from so many asking whether I inspired the UtterlyButterly blue-haired cherub. Yes, I was the first Amul baby. Yes #ShyamBenegal took the photos. My sister @SmitaTharoor was in the 2nd colour campaign. We may have. But we don’t know,” Shobha, now a writer and voice artist in California, posted on X.

Her brother Shashi Tharoor had also written years ago about his sisters featuring as “Amul babies” in early campaigns. In fact, the Tharoor family’s connection to the dairy giant doesn’t stop there—when Shashi entered politics, Amul even featured him in one of its topical cartoon ads.

But as the debate went viral, Amul itself stepped in with an official clarification. “We wish to clarify that the Amul Girl illustration is not influenced by Ms Shobha Tharoor. She was created by Mr. Sylvester daCunha and illustrator Mr. Eustace Fernandes,” the dairy brand stated.

So how did the real Amul Girl come to life? Back in the 1960s, when Amul was competing with Polson, Sylvester daCunha decided the brand needed a mascot with spunk. After scanning through hundreds of photographs of little girls, illustrator Eustace Fernandes eventually sketched out the round-faced, ponytailed cartoon who went on to become an advertising legend.

While the Tharoor sisters may have indeed been featured in early Amul campaigns as “Amul babies,” the enduring blue-haired cartoon girl, the nation’s favourite butter-loving mascot, was the brainchild of daCunha and Fernandes.

And yet, for fans of both the Tharoors and Amul, the possibility of that family connection remains an “utterly butterly” piece of nostalgia.