Yeh Ballet director Sooni Taraporevala has accused the makers of an advertisement, featuring Deepika Padukone, of plagiarism. The ad's production designer, Rupin Suchak, admitted that the similarities were deliberate.
Taking to Instagram, Taraporevala expressed her shock at discovering that the ad is strikingly similar to her film. Along with the caption she also posted a still from Yeh Ballet and one from the Levi's ad.
"A couple days ago someone brought this @levis_in ad to my attention. 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 @shalzoid (our PD) from scratch and dismantled after our shoot. 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). 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! It’s SO unfair to our wonderful production designer @shalzoid to have her work ripped off like that", Sooni wrote in her post.
She added, "Copycat culture in India needs to be called out and cancelled. You would think a foreign production company and director would know better. Are you so creatively bankrupt? What were you thinking? @levis_in @nadiaeye @offroadfilms @rupinsuchak @newland.tv."
The Netflix film Yeh Ballet, released in 2019, follows two Mumbai kids who dream of taking up ballet professionally, much to the disapproval of their families and the society.
According to a screenshot shared by Sooni, the ad's production designer said that the brief was indeed to follow Yeh Ballet while conceptualising the advertisement.
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