Shark Tank India 5 ‘Pakde gaye to jail jaoge’: Anupam Mittal warns pitcher calling himself a ‘doctor’ while practising aromatherapy

The fifth season of the entrepreneurship-based reality show Shark Tank India premiered on January 5. The first episode of this season featured a natural skin and hair care brand – Lewisia Wellness – founded by Dr. Manoj Das. It sought funding of Rs 1 lakh crore for 1 per cent equity at a valuation of Rs 100 crore.

The pitch was a failure from the word go. At the beginning of his presentation, Das claimed to be an aromatherapist and naturopath and started making one statement after another. Moving forward, he revealed that he became a content creator before becoming an entrepreneur.

Manoj said he entered the beauty industry in 2003 after doing a course in beauty culture. After 14 years, he started making YouTube videos on beauty hacks and tricks and started his business in 2020.

The brand has 4 categories at present – Skin Affairs, Lewisia In-organics, Wellness Beat and Tatvam. He added that they launched the business with sunscreen under the title Skin Affairs, but had to change due to brand policy.

Soon after, he shows off his videos, which are mostly pseudo-scientific in nature, with one of the thumbnails saying “Haldi ke paani se glass skin paayein sirf 7 din ke andar”. He was also questioned over his claims of making chemical-free products after Aman Gupta and Mohit Yadav of Minimalist discovered sodium benzoate in one of his products.

The Sharks could not trust the claims of Manoj or his products because they had not been clinically tested. After watching his videos, Mittal and Yadav criticized him for exploiting people’s insecurities, such as those caused by hair loss and skin problems.

“Main samajh gaya yaar aap kya kar rahe ho. Aapka jaadu hai aapki content creation. Aapne reels banayi hai joh bahot provocative hai. Ye aapki reels viral hogayi hai aur uske through aapka business chala hai.”

During his presentation, Das also revealed that more than 50% of his sales come from his website. He revealed that his brand received a rating of 3.5 in the market, and he says that there are only 50 reviews.

Anupam and the other sharks were not impressed at all and said there should have been more reviews for his brand, which had a turnover of around Rs 5 crore. Aman says, “Kuch to gadbad hai, sir,” and Anupam asks, “Tum kya kaand karne aaye ho?”

Not the provocative reels or the very few reviews of his products, but the fact that upset investors that Das called himself a “doctor.”

In the end, Mittal lost his cool and said that he could not even wish good luck for the future, adding that Das was cheating consumers.

“Manoj aap social media par ho isliye nazar nahi aa rahe, jab aaoge toh sidha jail jaaoge. I think you should leave, I won’t wish you good luck.” Namita Thapar also asked Manoj to do some “soul research”, adding that what he was doing was unethical and misleading to consumers.

Kunal Bahl thanked him for coming to the show so that people could identify scammers like him. He also called out Manoj for his claims of curing every disease under the sun.

Aman said, “Agar mein ismi paisa dal diya toh mein apne aap, apne balad, aam aur pais ki saath jhalat karunga.”

Needless to say, Lewisia Wellness did not receive an offer to participate in the show.