- Friday, February 28, 2025
Facing criticism over social media, the company said while taking down the video that it had “unintentionally” hurt certain communities.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Zomato, an Indian online food-delivery platform, has withdrawn its commercial on recycling waste following a backlash over how it showed a Dalit character.
Dalits constitute the lowest stratum of castes in India. They were earlier called untouchables.
The advertisement shown on the World Environment Day (June 5) portrayed the character as items made of recycled waste. Taking down the video, the company said it had “unintentionally” hurt certain communities.
Not the first time #AamirKhan or @zomato have shown poor taste. #PK was an example. #Kachra from #Lagaan was another. Trust Zomato to run an ad with it. Now taken down. https://t.co/PlMFSivQk2
— Minhaz Merchant (@MinhazMerchant) June 9, 2023
@RadhaKhn: The ad shows how boardrooms and ad agencies have no diversity and are completely dominated by upper castes who have little or no understanding of how to perceive and depict those who are from marginalised and socially-ostracised group. https://t.co/JFuOkmW4pC
— Soutik Biswas (@soutikBBC) June 8, 2023
The advert featured Aditya Lakhia, who famously played the character of a challenged Dalit named ‘Kachra’ (garbage in Hindi) in the 2001 Bollywood film ‘Lagaan’ featuring superstar Aamir Khan.
The film tells the story of farmers who challenge their British rulers to a cricket match in order to get rid of a punitive tax. The film went on to bag an Oscar nomination and also found a place among the 25 best sports films by Time magazine.
Bhuvan, the protagonist in the film played by Khan, decides to play Kachra seeing his spinning skills and fights resistance from fellow villagers. The move proves to be a masterstroke as Kachra goes on to rattle the mighty British in the cricket match and helps the Indians to win and evade the tax.
The advert, aimed at showcasing Zomato’s voluntary waste recycling, depicted the character as playing with items that are made from recycled waste, such as lamp, table, paper, and others.
Bollywood filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan slammed the food-delivery platform tweeting, “Kachra from Lagaan was one of the most dehumanised voiceless depictions of Dalits ever in cinema.”
#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! https://t.co/xWUpDatUvD
— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) June 8, 2023
Some screengrabs from the commercial. pic.twitter.com/fkmP4iLuli
— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) June 8, 2023
Radha Khan, a development professional wrote in The Indian Express that “using a character who is a Dalit and showing him to be made from actual waste is extremely problematic and insensitive”.
“To depict a person as being recycled trash “rescued” from the dung heap to be used as utility “objects” dehumanises him. It shows how corporate boardrooms and ad agencies have no diversity in their staff and are clearly completely dominated by upper castes who have little or no understanding of how to perceive and depict those who are from marginalised and socially-ostracised groups,” she said.
Lakhia told indianexpress.com that the campaign was meant to give a ‘positive’ message. “It has become a controversy now, what to do? We did it in a positive way, it wasn’t to hurt anybody. Nobody would do that, least of all me because I’ve played the character,” he was quoted as saying.
Netizens flayed Zomato and called for boycotting the company trended on social media on Friday (9).
Communications strategist Karthik Srinivasan told the PTI that Zomato tried a play on the word ‘Kachra’ without giving much thought into how it would look to make the character carry out “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,” he said.
