‘Like a daily soap’: Balika Vadhu star slams Shark Tank India 5 for ‘dramatizing’ her pitch, editing out resolution | Television News
Balika Vadhu actress Neha Marda recently appeared on Shark Tank India 5 along with her brother Sumit Marda, presenting their brand Phitku. Phitku is a deodorant stick made with refined alum, and it came as an idea after Neha fought with body odour post her pregnancy. In the tank, Neha, Sumit, and their partner Rahul asked for an investment of Rs 1.8 crores for 1 percent equity. While they got this deal, it came with a condition to pay 3x royalty, which is Rs 5.4 crores, to Aman Gupta and Anupam Mittal. Now, in an exclusive interview with SCREEN, Neha and Sumit expressed disappointment over their edited pitch, and they also reflected upon this decision to pay royalty.
Talking about their Shark Tank India experience, Neha said, “It felt like giving the 10th board and 12th board exam at the same time. I have taken money from lots of producers, but never pitched my business to investors.” Sumit added, “I have pitched to multiple investors in the past, but here it was different. Just talking to investors, the complete ecosystem changes; there is makeup, lights, and five Sharks are shooting questions simultaneously at you, and while you finish answering one, the next comes. I have taken money from a lot of investors, but this was different.”
On Amit Jain schooling them for showing inflated revenues
During the pitch, Amit Jain was seen getting irritated after learning that the founders disclosed profitable revenues with GST added in the valuation. Learning that he got irritated and asked if they did so just to spike their valuation. Talking about Amit’s reactions, Sumit said, “It’s the normal way we use to pitch, where we share the gross figures first and then share the net revenue. Amit had some confusion as to whether GST is added to gross revenue or not, which we cleared during the pitch, and he was convinced. But of course, the show’s format is such that our 90 to 120-minute-long discussion is shown in 20 minutes, and the editing happens in such a way that it creates curiosity.”
Expressing disappointment over Shark Tank India’s edited episode, Neha Marda said, “The episode felt like a telecast of a daily soap drama which I could connect to. We were in the tank for almost two hours, and what you saw was around 17 to 20 minutes. So even though this incident seems so big that the Sharks raised so many questions, there was never so much discussion. The part where they understood didn’t get telecast.” Sumit also added, “This was the first time I experienced how music and editing can make a huge difference to a daily soap. When we saw the episode, we were also like, ohh, what will happen next?”
Neha continued, “Just before the ad came, it felt like we won’t get the deal, and I wondered what happened, because we didn’t feel like that even for a moment. We thought from the start that we were getting the deal.” Sumit added, “Amit’s questions were genuine, and if two top Sharks invested in the business, it was of course cleared which is why they invested. But yes, it was dramatized a little too much, which was not the case.”
‘Business has seen a 5x spike’
Sharing their views on whether paying 3x royalty was a fair demand from Anupam and Aman, Sumit said, “Different people look at it differently. Our negotiations went on for 15-20 minutes. That is not shown; it was one of the longest negotiations we had. We wanted the Sharks on board to help us take the brand to the next level. We wanted people who have made successful businesses, so we look at royalty as a consulting fee. And since we are extremely profitable, giving royalty is not as big a pain as giving equity. 1 percent of that is worth more than a few crores in cash. We are giving it as a consulting fee to the Sharks so that we buy their time; we were very clear about what we were doing. Cash is an easier asset to trade than equity.”
Sharing how their business has seen a 5x spike immediately after the episode, Sumit said, “Before Shark Tank India, we were doing business of Rs 7 lakhs per day, which is around Rs 2.1 crores gross per month. Right now, we are doing Rs 35 lakhs per day, so the growth is 5x. But we are seeing this as an immediate effect of Shark Tank India. For how many days will it last? We don’t know. But the challenge is continue this for a long time. We always knew that there would be a 3 to 5x surge after the show, but how we leverage that and get the most benefit from it matters. We were ready to absorb this surge. We are also going to close a fund worth 2-3 million, so a lot of things are working for us.”
Sumit also shared how Aman and Anupam have constantly been in touch with them. While they are yet to meet with Aman, their meeting with Anupam is scheduled in Mumbai next week.
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Before signing off, Neha also shared that switching gears from acting to entrepreneurship was easy? She shared, “It was not an easy decision to make, being an entrepreneur was not my vision. This was not my plan, I never wanted to be an actor, and suddenly God made my stream to be an actor. When I first started acting, I was 17, I didn’t know how to act as a lead heroine, I eventually learned, and today I have 27 best actress awards. With business also, I am learning every day. I have not completely switched from the industry, I was always an actor. This is just a part of life.”
