Director Sooni Taraporevala took to social media to call out the makers of a new advertisement featuring Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, accusing them of plagiarism. The ‘Yeh Ballet’ director shared a long post on Instagram to express her displeasure over the ‘Copycat culture’ in India. She slammed the makers of Levis’ new ad for ‘lifting the design of her set’ for the advertisement.
Sooni said that she was shocked to see her ‘Yeh Ballet’ production designer’s work get ‘ripped off’. She shared a screenshot of a comment in which the ad’s production designer admitted that there were similarities as the ‘director wanted the same’.
Sooni Taraporevala’s Instagram Post
“I was shocked to see our Yeh Ballet dance studio set in this ad, because it was conceptualized & created out of a derelict space by Shailaja Sharma @shalzoid (our PD) from scratch and dismantled after our shoot. No such dance studio exists in Mumbai which is why we built it. Basically @nadiaeye (the director of this ad) saw Yeh Ballet and decided to plagiarize our set down to the very last detail (swipe for screenshot),” Sooni wrote.
She further said that the ‘copycat culture’ should be cancelled in India and questioned if the makers of the ad could think of plagiarism in the West without taking permission.
“Would Levi’s and the director ever think of doing that in the west without permission / acknowledgment, and passing it off as their own creative work? This is not homage this is intellectual theft! Copycat culture in India needs to be called out and cancelled,” Sooni added.
The filmmaker clarified that her post had nothing to do with Deepika or any cast member.
(Swipe to see all the images)
Deepika Padukone’s Levi’s Ad Video Goes Viral
Deepika can be seen dancing on the beats of ‘Auva Auva Koi Yahaan Nache’ from ‘Disco Dancer’ in the one-minute ad. The video has garnered over 5 million views on the official YouTube handle of Levi’s India.
Deepika Padukone Upcoming Films
On the professional front, Deepika Padukone will be next seen in Kabir Khan’s ’83’. She is playing the role of Ranveer Singh’s on-screen wife in the sports drama, which is based on India’s 1983 Cricket World Cup victory. She also has ‘Pathan’ and Nag Ashwin’s next project in her kitty. The ‘Chhapaak’ actress will share screen-space with Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday in Shakun Batra’s upcoming movie.
Watch this space for more updates!
