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After musicians, Hansal Mehta slams Rishabh Pant's Dream11 ad
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta on Saturday slammed Dream11's commercial featuring Rishabh Pant

After musicians, Hansal Mehta slams Rishabh Pant's Dream11 ad

By Divya Raje Bhonsale
Dec 10, 2022
06:29 pm
What's the story

Dream11's advertisement featuring cricketer Rishabh Pant is drawing major flak on social media for allegedly insulting Indian classical music. After classical musicians Kaushiki Chakraborty and Purbayan Chatterjee criticized the commercial on Twitter, filmmaker Hansal Mehta has now slammed the same. Calling it "disgusting and disrespectful," Mehta, on Saturday, demanded the immediate removal of the ad through a post on Twitter.

Context

Why does this story matter?

The commercial shows Rishabh Pant, a wicketkeeper-batter of the Indian cricket team, wondering what he would be if he weren't a cricketer. It then shows him, dressed as a classical singer, taking the stance of a wicketkeeper in front of the mics and singing badly. The advertisement is being called out for allegedly disrespecting Indian classical music.

Details

Mehta demands removal of ad

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Mehta, who is known for helming films such as Shahid and Aligarh and also Pratik Gandhi starrer series Scam 1992, called the commercial "disgusting and disrespectful." Sharing the ad, he added that one must not do things at "the cost of ridiculing art and its rich traditions." Mehta further demanded that Dream11 pull down the commercial.

Twitter Post

Check out Mehta's tweet

Reaction

'But why pull it down?' asks writer Munish Bharadwaj

Commenting on Mehta's post, writer Munish Bharadwaj said that while the ad is in bad taste, it doesn't need to be pulled down. "Freedom of expression should be absolute as long as it's not inciting violence or harm to anyone. Also, art and its rich traditions will remain intact forever but silly ads like these will be forgotten in seconds," he replied to Mehta.

Criticizing Pant

‘You look like a fool’, says Chakraborty on Pant’s ad

Classical singer Chakraborty has slammed Pant for the commercial. "I don't have words to express my disgust and the ugliness of this commercial. Disrespecting your legacy makes you look like a fool, Rishabh Pant," she wrote in a series of tweets. "I am practising Indian Classical Music and I don't follow cricket but I've never disrespected your field of work (sic)," she added.

Twitter Post

Chakraborty's tweet

More on controversy

Chatterjee issues a statement on the controversy

Renowned sitarist Chatterjee slammed the commercial by issuing a statement on social media, saying it isn't the first time such a thing has happened and "this cannot be condoned." Sharing a video on Twitter, he said, "This is a great musical art form, greatly respected and revered... If you talk about [cricket]...legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar are great proponents of this art form."

Twitter Post

Take a look at Chatterjee's full statement