Zomato deletes ad depicting 'Lagaan' character Kachra as recycled waste items
New Delhi (PTI): 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 waste.
The ad, which draws a link between the character Kachra with 'kachra', the Hindi word for garbage, was aired on World Environment Day on June 5.
As 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 way".
"Unintentionally, we may have hurt the sentiments of certain communities and individuals. We have taken down the video," it said.
The ad, aiming to show the food delivery company's 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 out.
In the nearly two-minute 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 item.
The company in its now deleted ad on YouTube also claimed it has "recycled 20 million kg of plastic kachra so far".
"Zomato voluntarily recycles more than 100% 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 100% plastic-neutral 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 read.
Discussing the controversial ad campaign, communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan said Zomato did not think adequately about making the character perform "seemingly dehumanising and menial tasks".
"There's a context to Kachra's 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 stereotyped.
"Coming 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 PTI.
He added that Zomato attempted to mine a "kind of sly humour" from the name for waste upcycling/recycling.
The video was slammed online for its seemingly casteist overtones.
"#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," Ghaywan wrote on Twitter.
Filmmaker Madhurita Anand wrote in reply to Ghaywan's 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 it."
Dalit historian and writer Karunyakara Lella also hit out at Zomato for its "Dalit phobic" advertisement.
"Why #Zomato is insensitive to Dalit sentiments? Why it takes liberty to hurt Dalit life by humiliating Dalit Identity? #BoycottZomato for #DalitPhobic #casteracist advertisement," Lella wrote.
Another 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 apology.
The food delivery company has found itself on the wrong side of marketing in the past as well.
In 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 chicken.
The company later withdrew the ad after backlash on social media.
In 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 "Mahakal".
Priests 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 controversy.
The company later apologised clarifying that the "Mahakal" reference was for a restaurant and not the temple.
The character Kachra in "Lagaan" is a polio-affected Dalit. When Aamir Khan's 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 match.
This is horrible @zomato. And very stupid in this day and age! We should all boycott @zomato unless they apologize in a big way! https://t.co/QM59GwWUNL
— Aseem Chhabra (@chhabs) June 8, 2023
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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
