Zomato turns Kachra from Lagaan into literal trash in casteist ad, takes it down after trolling

“Last time when kachra played, India won. This time earth will win.” These are the words with which Zomato’s latest advertisement ends.

While Lagaan fans will be delighted to see actor Aditya Lakhia reprise his role as Kachra from the original film, many aren’t impressed with what they feel is blatant casteism.

Some screengrabs from the commercial. pic.twitter.com/fkmP4iLuli

— Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) June 8, 2023

Lagaan might have aged well as the last Indian film to get a Best International Feature at the Oscars but its depiction of the character Kachra has been the subject of much criticism in the years to come. Even if Aamir Khan's protagonist supports him and asks his fellow team members to not treat Kachra like an untouchable, the scene just comes off as an example of saviour complex with Kachra being rendered as largely a voiceless character.

As Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan wrote in a recent tweet, 

The character Kachra (which translates to trash in Hindi) is a Dalit paraplegic man and is belittled and emasculated by the rest of Lagaan’s cricket team, only for him to save the day with his last-minute entry to the game as a right-arm leg spinner. 

The fact that Dalit characters have received such dehumanised portrayals with literally “trashy” names is obviously bound to garner controversy. And food delivery giant Zomato has now just added a flame to the fire with an advertisement that can be best described as tonedeaf. 

Released on June 5 (World Environment Day), the 1-minute-44-second clip shows Aditya Lakhia returning as Kachra. The ad basically shows how waste can be recycled to make tables, flower vases, bomber jackets, towels and what not. 

So, to show trash’s use in the literal sense, some bright ad executive came up with the idea of showing the human Kachra act as recycled waste. Yes, that is what the ad is literally about!

We see Lakhia pose as a human stool, and then cling on to a wall hook like a towel with a man even cleaning his nose on Lakhia’s sleeve. The ad has drawn largely negative reactions for what people are describing as casteism. 

A YouTube comment by @TheUnicornFrancis reads, “This ad makes it too hard to believe that the advertising team sat down and simply thought this would just be funny. Anyone living in India understands the connotation of the term kachra, the character kachra in Lagaan, and the meaning of such dehumanising depictions.”

Neeraj Ghaywan took to Twitter to express his disappointment. Tagging Zomato in his tweet, he wrote,

@CateTraitor even tweeted, 

With such comments on YouTube and Twitter, the general consensus is that Zomato’s latest ad is “inhuman”, “casteist” and “insensitive”. 

As the ad ends, Zomato boasts that the company has recycled 20 million kg of plastic waste so far and then add a hashtag that is obviously titled “#KachraBhiKhelega”. 

Lagaan actor Aditya Lakhia, however, has not come out with any response so far.