Shillong: The newly released Netflix India’s advertisement showcasing what the makers thought was Cherrapunji ki Diwali has invited widespread criticism across Meghalaya.
Netizens, students’ organisations and other civil society organisations in Meghalaya have slammed the OTT platform Netflix for a “false and misleading representation of the community” in the advertisement.
The video which has been doing the rounds on social media since it was released on October 21 has attracted criticism for a false representation of how Diwali is celebrated in this village in Meghalaya.
Many have opined that the advertisement once again falsely depicts the state, its people, and especially Sohra (as locals call it) and that the makers have failed to understand the Northeast altogether.
Twitter user Gertrude D Lamare slammed Netflix India by saying: “Sohra in your ad doesn’t really exist. Cheers for getting it wrong, again!”
Shillong Times Editor Patricia Mukhim in her Facebook post said, “Not sure why this weather wants to co-operate with this disgusting ad from #Netflix but it’s raining in Shillong. Normally this is autumn and the rains should have receded. This advert is yet again aimed at portraying all tribals as Hindus who celebrate Diwali. The attempt to assimilate the tribes into a monolithic culture has never been so overt and superciliously done. It’s sad that for a few rupees our people too should agree to be co-opted lock, stock and barrel”.
Mukhim goes on to say that it is certainly a case of “false advertising”.
She also emphasised how she has never heard of tribals making rangolis. “Sure we lit candles and diyas because we somehow liked the idea of “light”. The young would burst crackers because everyone else did. There was no religion involved in this,” added Mukhim. She urged Netflix to withdraw the advertisement.
A Facebook post of Mike Sangma, co-founder of Porkipine, criticised the advertisement and called it “obnoxious”.
“Found this Netflix Diwali Commercial way odd and inconsistent with the current trend of encouraging vernacular languages in the country! Or the definition of mother tongue only means Hindi????,” asked Sangma.
He also questioned since when has any Bah from Cherrapunji or a Khasi guy for that matter from Meghalaya start speaking such ‘sudh’ (fluent) pure Hindi.
Filmmaker Tarun Bhartiya tweeted: “<Hindu Corporate India> Khasi Hills merely a backdrop – with wrong festival, wrong name, wrong dress, wrong accent, wrong language – (everything fucking wrong) @netflixindia dances to Hindu India Tune.
“Wrong translation in the next tweet,” he added
The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has termed the advertisement as ‘misleading’.
“There is no such place called CHERRAPUNJEE in KHASILAND!!! The name is SOHRA!!!” KSU general secretary Donald Thabah said in a social media post.
Thabah added, “Is Netflix India following the colonial era? Diwali is the festival of lights, Netflix India should shed the correct light on our tribe, our customs, our beliefs and our aspirations. Don’t be misled by pseudo-Indian elements.”
Sohra is a picturesque village at around 1,290 metres above sea level and about 60 kilometres from Shillong.
For nearly 180 years, this village was known as Cherrapunjee to the outside world.
The state government, under sustained lobbying for decades by the nearly 150,000 tribal Khasi inhabitants, had decided to rename Cherrapunjee as Sohra – the name locals have always used for it except in official communication.
Sohra is the actual name of this village. Unable to pronounce it properly, the British tweaked it to ‘Cherra’.
Later, Bengali bureaucrats added ‘punjo’, which means a cluster. This finally evolved to ‘Cherrapunjee’.
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