Deepika
Padukone's
latest
advertisement
for
a
popular
denim
brand
has
stirred
a
controversy
after
filmmaker
Sooni
Taraporevala
claimed
that
the
backdrop
of
the
commercial
is
similar
to
that
of
her
critically
acclaimed
Netflix
film
Yeh
Ballet.
Taraporevala
blasted
the
makers
of
Deepika's
advertisement
in
a
long
post
on
her
Instagram
page.
She
accused
them
of
intellectual
theft.
She
said
that
the
director
of
the
ad
saw
Yeh
Ballet
and
used
the
same
set
without
any
acknowledgement,
passing
it
off
as
their
very
own
creative
work.
The
filmmaker
wrote,
"A
couple
of
days
ago
@cindy_jourdain
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
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).
Would
Levi's
and
the
director
ever
think
of
doing
that
in
the
west
without
permission
/
acknowledgement,
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."
She
further
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
PS.
contrary
to
what
clickbait
news
headlines
say,
this
has
nothing
to
do
with
Deepika
Padukone
or
anyone
else
in
the
cast."
When
a
netizen
pointed
out
the
similarities
between
the
setup
of
Deepika's
ad
and
Yeh
Ballet,
the
ad's
production
designer,
Rupin
Suchak
admitted
that
Sooni's
film
was
indeed
a
part
of
the
brief
which
was
given
to
them.
The
Instagram
user
wrote,
"That's
exactly
like
the
studio
in
the
film
Yeh
Ballet,
did
you
guys
shoot
there?" Rupin's
reply
to
him
read,
"Yes
we
did
:)
in
fact
that's
what
our
director
wanted
so
we
had
to
recreate
that."
Meanwhile,
the
denim
brand
is
yet
to
react
to
Sooni
Taraporevala's
allegations.