Masaan Director Neeraj Ghaywan Slams Zomato for 'Repulsive Casteist' Ad Featuring Lagaan's Kachra

Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan took to Twitter to slam Zomato for their recent ad featuring the actor who played the role of Kachra in Lagaan. For the unversed, Zomato released a commercial earlier this week featuring Aditya Lakhia, who played Kachra in the Aamir Khan-led movie. Dubbing him ‘Kachra’, the campaign tried to shed light on the detrimental impact of plastic waste and aimed to demonstrate the staggering amount of waste required to create everyday items. The ad received massive backlash from the internet.

Neeraj joined social media users to criticize the ad. He tweeted, “#Kachra from #Lagaan was one of the most dehumanised voiceless depictions of Dalits ever in cinema. @zomato has used the same character and made a repulsive #casteist commercial. A human stool? Are you serious? Extremely insensitive!”

Speaking with Hindustan Times, the filmmaker said, “Such depiction inadvertently normalises casteism. It celebrates saviours but puts the oppressed in the same cycle of being a perpetual victim.”

“It is even more insensitive in using this character to make a ‘funny’ commercial about sustainable recycling. It ends up being tone-deaf to depict the character as a human footstool and various objects. It literally dehumanises by way of straight up objectifying. Companies need to have an inclusivity orientation,” he added.

Luv Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha’s son, also condemned the ad. “What happens when you hire woke and ignorant individuals to come up with a tacky ad, without understanding how you’re demeaning and degrading members of our society who should be supported. #Zomato,” he tweeted.

The backlash against the advertisement led to Zomato pulling down the commercial. The food delivery app platform took to Twitter and issued a statement regarding the ad. “On world environment day, our intent was to spread awareness about the potential of plastic waste and benefits of recycling in a humorous way. Unintentionally, we may have hurt the sentiments of certain communities and individuals. We have taken down the video,” the statement read.

Zomato was trolled for not apologising for the ad in the statement.