Shark Tank India’s Anupam Mittal recalls when a ‘sundari’ came on stage to demonstrate belly button shaper: ‘Ashneer Grover said…’

In an interview with RJ Siddharth Kannan, he said in Hindi, “This guy comes with his wife, I welcomed him to the show, and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is, ‘What’s your fantasy?’ I hid my face in embarrassment and decided not to get into a discussion with him, who knows what he’d reveal.”

Anupam continued, “He said that his fantasy is a deep and round belly button. We didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, we didn’t know what to do. And this man had invented a device that he said could help you get a deep and round belly button. So he summoned a dancer on stage, saying, ‘Bahar lao sundari ko’, and a ‘nachaniya’ came out. And he displayed her deep and round belly button. So, on the one hand I’m thinking of belly buttons, then this guy is asking for investment, and the other sharks are laughing. I didn’t know what to do, you have to see it.”

What eventually ended up happening was that the pitcher was turned down by the panel. Vineeta Singh said that she wouldn’t want to be associated with a ‘transformative’ product because she believes in body positivity. Namita Thapar said that she doesn’t think the product would sell at all, but Ashneer Grover wasn’t going to let things go.

He launched into a tirade against the pitcher, and said in Hindi, “I am laughing at myself for I’m wasting my time here. There are so many problems in the world, you could have made anything. I think this is a gimmicky product… There is no demand for this, there is no medical use for this… I’m not going to mince my words. You wasted your time and ours. Be serious. Don’t sell this, if you waste even half a second on this product, you will ruin your life.”