Deepika Padukone accused of plagiarism; ‘Are you so creatively bankrupt?’, Sooni Taraporevala

An advertisement for a denim brand featuring Deepika Padukone was accused of mimicking a studio set up by Sooni Taraporevala, the director of the Netflix film Yeh Bale. Read her post here

A denim brand advertisement featuring Deepika Padukone has been accused of plagiarism. Director Sooni Taraporewala claimed that the dance studio used in the advertisement featuring the actress was designed for the Netflix film Yeh Bale. She claimed that the set was plagued with very final details, and is passed off as her own creative work. He slammed the ad makers and production designers for blatantly copying the studio set-up.

SUNY Taraporevala shared photos of both studios featured in the ad, as well as Yeh Ballet for easy comparison. She wrote, “A few days ago @cindy_jourdain brought this @levis_in advertisement to my attention. I was surprised to see our Yeh Ballet Dance Studio in this advertisement, as it was built by Shailaja Sharma @shalzoid (our PD) from an abusive location and it was destroyed after our shoot. Originally @nadiaeye (the director of this ad) saw Yeh Ballet and decided to make our set to the very final detail (swipe for screenshot). “

She further questioned, “Will Levi and the director ever think of doing this without permission / approval in the West, and turn it off as his own creative work?” This is not a tribute, it is intellectual theft! For our amazing production designer @shalzoid, it is unfair to SO that his work was somehow missed. “

Suni Taraporevala wrote that imitation culture should be called out. “You think a foreign production company and director would know better. Are you so creatively bankrupt? what were you thinking? They have written

Pictures shared by him include a screenshot of a comment by the ad’s production designer, Rupin Suhak, in which he admitted that he was re-creating the set that the director wanted. “This is exactly like the studio in the film Yeh Balet, did you guys shoot there?” Asked a social media user. Rupin Suchak replied, “Yes we did 🙂 Exactly what our director wanted so we had to recreate it.”