Zomato deletes ad depicting 'Lagaan' character Kachra as recycled waste items

Apologising for unintentionally hurting sentiments restaurant aggregator Zomato on Thursday withdrew an ad after it came under fire for depicting the actor who played the Dalit character Kachra in the film Lagaan as items made of recycled wasteThe ad which draws a link between the character Kachra with kachra the Hindi word for garbage was aired on World Environment Day on June 5As ire grew and the ad came under attack on social media for being casteist the company issued an apology from its official Twitter handle and said the intent was to spread awareness about the potential of plastic waste and benefits of recycling in a humorous wayUnintentionally we may have hurt the sentiments of certain communities and individuals We have taken down the video it saidThe ad aiming to show the food delivery companys recycling efforts was termed disgusting blatantly casteist and extremely insensitive by netizens on Twitter Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan filmmaker Madhurita Anand and Dalit historian Karunyakara Lella were among those who spoke outIn the nearly twominute ad actor Aditya Lakhia who played the character in the 2001 hit film is depicted as a lamp paper paperweight watering can and different types of jackets the accompanying text detailing how much recycled kachra was used to make each itemThe company in its now deleted ad on YouTube also claimed it has recycled 20 million kg of plastic kachra so farZomato voluntarily recycles more than 10037 of the plastic used to package orders and keeps it out of landfills This 20 million kg of plastic waste recycled in FY 23 under our 10037 plasticneutral deliveries initiative can be turned into many items of immense value We believe in the power of recycling and kachra the best spinner in the entire British Raj does as well the description of the ad readDiscussing the controversial ad campaign communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan said Zomato did not think adequately about making the character perform seemingly dehumanising and menial tasksTheres a context to Kachras character in Lagaan and within the larger spectrum of commercial entertainment in India on how castes are portrayed and how Dalits in particular are portrayed or stereotypedComing from that angle to see the character perform seemingly dehumanising and menial tasks even if he is performing them figuratively as waste and not his Lagaan character per se made the ad seem very awkward Srinivasan told PTIHe added that Zomato attempted to mine a kind of sly humour from the name for waste upcyclingrecyclingThe video was slammed online for its seemingly casteist overtonesKachra 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 Ghaywan wrote on TwitterFilmmaker Madhurita Anand wrote in reply to Ghaywans tweet That is just so offensive One has to wonder who these people are who created the advert approved it and put it online without once thinking about itDalit historian and writer Karunyakara Lella also hit out at Zomato for its Dalit phobic advertisementWhy Zomato is insensitive to Dalit sentiments Why it takes liberty to hurt Dalit life by humiliating Dalit Identity BoycottZomato for DalitPhobic casteracist advertisement Lella wroteAnother Twitter user Sana Satpathy said Zomato is beyond disgusting and its marketing head should be fired immediately She used the hashtag BoycottZomato and called for a public apologyThe food delivery company has found itself on the wrong side of marketing in the past as wellIn 2017 an outdoor ad campaign in major cities including Delhi Mumbai and Bengaluru showed Hindi expletives MC BC as abbreviations for mac n cheese and butter chickenThe company later withdrew the ad after backlash on social mediaIn 2022 Zomato pulled down an advertisement featuring actor Hrithik Roshan who was shown to be craving for a thali food platter in Ujjain so he ordered it from MahakalPriests of the famous Mahakaleshwar temple in Madhya Pradesh objected claiming that it offended Hindu sentiments and demanded its withdrawal Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had issued directives to the police to look into the controversyThe company later apologised clarifying that the Mahakal reference was for a restaurant and not the templeThe character Kachra in Lagaan is a polioaffected Dalit When Aamir Khans character Bhuvan insists on adding him to the cricket team the central theme of the film after spotting his spinning skills upper caste members openly reject the idea as he is an untouchable However he ends up playing a crucial role in the cricket matchThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or 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