A north Indian who had to travel south to make a name for herself has now been wooed to sell a classic southern brand that may be in need of a celebrity bump.

Tamannaah Bhatia, 35, has signed a two-year contract worth ₹6.2 crore with the Karnataka government to be appointed brand ambassador for the Mysore Sandal Soap.

With the actor’s stint in Kannada filmdom restricted to special appearances in item songs in just two movies — Jaguar (2016) and KGF: Chapter 1 (2018) — the development has triggered an impassioned debate over regional identity and representation.

Several pro-Kannada groups have argued that the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, which manufactures the soap, ought to have plumped for a local Kannada actor. A protest march was taken to the KSDL office in Bengaluru on Friday afternoon.

M.B. Patil, Karnataka minister for large industries, however, defended the PSU’s choice of Tamannaah. He said her wide appeal beyond the region was what the rapidly expanding soap brand needed, and suggested that it could have a brand ambassador from Hollywood in another two years.

Mysore sandal soap Sourced by The Telegraph

“The KSDL recorded a 40 per cent growth in turnover over the last couple of years. The growth rate has exceeded our pan-Indian expectations,” Patil said.

“In the next few years, we are hoping to enhance the turnover of Mysore Sandal Soap to ₹5,000 crore. We also plan to have a Hollywood actor as its brand ambassador in two years,” he added.

“Tamannaah was made the brand ambassador to expand the global reach of the KSDL’s wide array of products. Her strong digital presence, her acumen in connecting with Gen-Next and, above all, her appeal as an actress cutting across all ages helped us zero in on her.”

The Mumbai-born Tamannaah, a Sindhi, made her Bollywood debut as a 15-year-old in Chand Sa Roshan Chehra in 2005. The teenage romance film did not do as well as expected.

So, like many other disappointed Bollywood starlets before her, the “Milky Beauty” — a moniker that pays tribute to her flawless complexion — decided to try her luck in the south.

Her Telugu debut came soon enough — in Sree in 2005 itself — and she ventured into the Tamil film industry the following year. It took two more years for her to taste even a moderate degree of success, though.

And for all her acting prowess, Tamannaah had to wait a decade to mark her first box-office blockbuster, in the form of Baahubali: The Beginning, in 2015.

Tamannaah’s rather late debut in the Malayalam film industry, through Bandra in 2023, proved a dismal failure. But her Bollywood career has taken off over the last few years, apparently sending her fees skyrocketing.

The Mysore Sandal Soap, a legacy brand that dates back to 1916, is widely popular in Karnataka. According to the KSDL, the brand earned a net profit of ₹415 crore in 2024-25 while registering a growth of 14 per cent.