Indri’s ‘Bindi Connection’: Innocent Aesthetic or an Echo of the Jessica Lal Tragedy?

Vasundhra Tewari

| November 9 | Spotlight

Indri, a popular Indian single malt whisky, recently made it to headlines after being crowned as the “Best World Whisky” title at the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards, earning an impressive score of 99.1. Yet, what should have been a moment of celebration for its makers turned into a bittersweet victory, as the achievement reignited intense discussions around morality, ethics, and public sentiment around the Jessica Lal tragedy.

But this piece isn’t about revisiting that debate. Instead, it focuses on something else, a recent post on LinkedIn that has left many people uneasy. It is about Indri’s brand logo and a very minor detail that looks small, but when noticed, can’t be ignored!

An Unsettling Design Detail

Aniruddha Khandekar, a Business, marketing & communication strategy consultant, recently shared his thoughts on the Indri whiskey brand via a LinkedIn post and took the whole discussion to another dimension.

In his post, he wrote:

“Have you ever looked closely at the Indri bottle? The clean lines, the minimal label, the bold lettering, and then that one single red dot. It’s impossible to miss.”

He went on to say:

“When I see the bottle of Indri, I see nothing but the distinctive red bindi, which has a strange resemblance to the one on Jessica Lal’s most printed and imprinted image. Coincidence or devious design coding? Makes my hair stand. Indri will never be the same to me again.”

It was a simple observation, yet it opened a floodgate of emotions…

The Indri & Jessica Lal Connection

If you are one of those who already know the backstory, you probably know what people are calling “The Bindi Connection.”

For those who don’t — here’s what’s quietly resurfaced.

The resemblance that Khandekar pointed out stems from Jessica Lal’s most recognized photograph, which shows her calm and graceful, with a small red bindi placed at the center of her forehead. That image became symbolic of her and of a nation’s outrage over her senseless killing out of rage.

Now, years later, that same red dot seems to reappear on the label of Indri, right above the brand’s name.
A coincidence, perhaps. But once noticed, it’s hard to unsee.

The Tragic Story of Jessica Lal

Jessica Lal was a model and a celebrity barmaid who had big dreams for the future. But her dreams were not made to last. On 30th April, 1999, while serving as a bartender of an unlicensed bar at a socialite party, she denied one drink to Manu Sharma because the bar ran out of liquor at midnight, which only served till 12.30 am. Raged Sharma shot her dead at around 2:00 AM.

Although he was first acquitted, Sharma was later found guilty in 2006 for brutal murder and tampering with the evidence, along with two of his friends, and given a life sentence. After spending 16 years in prison, he was released in 2020 for good conduct.

Manu Sharma is none other than Siddharth Sharma, the owner of the infamous Indri Whiskey (Piccadilly Distilleries) and the son of former Congress leader Venod Sharma and the brother of media baron Kartikeya Sharma.

The Logo & Emotional Echo

For many, this design might be pleasing with minimal elements yet an appealing aesthetic, but for those who lived through the Jessica Lal case, this dot carries an emotional echo of a horrifying incident that brings the ghosts of the past.

Hence, the question emerges: Can a design ever be entirely neutral?

Whether the resemblance of the red dot on the brand’s logo is intentional or not is something only the brand’s designers can answer. But the fact that people felt it, that they saw something, is powerful in itself.

It reminds us that design isn’t just about how things look. It’s about how they make us feel. And sometimes, even the most innocent aesthetic can awaken a memory we thought had settled long ago.