A recent tweet from famed director Hansal Mehta expressed his unhappiness with a commercial featuring batsman Rishabh Pant that mocked classical Indian music. In this commercial, Rishabh Pant appeared on stage dressed as a classical vocalist, squatted like a wicketkeeper, and began singing incoherently. Popular cricketers appear in numerous adverts for the smartphone app Dream 11 with a similar premise and pursue other careers.
Hansal Mehta tweeted the video and said, “This is a nasty and rude commercial. Make yourself look good, but not at the expense of mocking art and its long traditions. I demand that this be taken down by @Dream11.”
The ad was also criticised by filmmaker Onir, who said, “Stupid advertisement. @Dream11 You ought to feel humiliated and take it off. or have you lost all sense of judgement.”
Contrarily, director Sudhir Mishra stated that people shouldn’t pay attention to such advertisements. He noted: “Why do we care about stupid, ignorant people. Our very existence has been shaped by Indian classical music and every music that derives from our heritage. They cannot challenge us! Let the advertisement stand as a reminder of their ignorance. Never demand that something be prohibited!”
“It’s not about you or me,” added Sudhir. “We are all involved. We all have the right to dance, to explore, and to weep. We should all be able to make light-hearted fun of one another. I don’t have to ask for everyone to reject something for me to reject it. Hatred is poisonous, dislike is unavoidable.”