Bangladesh Caricature 'Very Funny', India Should Take it on the Chin, Says Ad-Guru Prahlad Kakkar
Leading Indian advertising professional Prahlad Kakkar defended Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo's attempt to mock the Indian team with half-shaven heads after their ODI series defeat against the Tigers recently.
"Thought it was very funny," said Kakkar of this caricature.
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After a Bangladeshi newspaper ridiculed the Indian team over its shocking one-day series defeat against the Bangla Tigers, reactions back home have been divided. However, well-known ad-guru Prahlad Kakkar said India should take it on the chin and made light of the caricature that appeared in a leading Bangladesh daily 'Prothom Alo'.
In its humour section, the newspaper published a caricature advertisement that showed top Indian players, including MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, with their head half shaven and under the towering presence of Mustafizur Rahman, the rookie pacer who single-handedly wrecked the famed Indian batting during the three match ODI series that India lost 2-1.
Even as Bangladeshi fans slammed the newspaper's attempt to 'shame' the Indian team, Kakkar, one of India's leading advertising professionals, felt the caricature was "very funny" and said India should take it in the right spirit.
"I thought it was very funny. We deserve to take that flak because we have also given it to them, referring to them as the baccha party," Kakkar told NDTV. "We treated them like step brothers. Now they thrashed us and we should be able to tell them 'okay, you guys have come a long way." (Mustafizur Eyes IPL Contract)
"I think we should be able to take victory with defeat. We deserve it -- we made fun of them. We should be able to take a couple of defeats on the chin," said Kakkar, who pointed out that India would have been more ruthless than the Bangladeshi newspaper had they beaten Pakistan so convincingly.
The 'Mauka, Mauka' campaign, which highlighted Pakistan's lack of success against India in World Cups, was a major hit in India during cricket's showpiece event earlier in the year.
The caricature, advertising stationery goods, shows Mustafizur with a 'cutter', a delivery that fetched him a record 13 wickets. The photo-shopped image has been published in the paper's humour magazine section - Rosh Alo - on June 29. (Mustafizur's India Connection)
But the satire, mocking India's abject failure, failed to evoke the response it probably desired as several local fans criticized the post in the paper's Facebook edition, calling it "unceremonious" and "betraying Bangladeshi culture".
Bangladesh fans were cock-a-hoop when teenaged pacer Mustifizur knocked out top Indian batsmen in the first two ODIs on June 18 and June 21. Although India won a consolation match in the third game on June 24, Bangladesh credited themselves with some fine all-round performance.
During the series, a section of the fans harassed well-known Indian fan Sudhir Chaudhary in Dhaka. The colourful Sachin Tendulkar fan had to be given extra security to save himself from overzealous Bangladesh supporters.