He acknowledged the need to adhere to the show's concept and maintain its integrity
A Chennai-based entrepreneur Karthik Manikonda was reportedly denied the opportunity to pitch his startup on Shark Tank India due to a language barrier. Manikonda expressed concerns about the popular TV show's language bias in a LinkedIn post.
Mr Manikonda is the founder of The Mind and Company, a company focused on mental health. He wrote about his experience in a post dated March 7.
He said that he was initially chosen to participate in the contest, but because he could not speak Hindi fluently, he was denied presenting his proposal to the judges.
Mr Manikonda expressed his dismay, stating that Shark Tank India has a policy of only allowing participants who are proficient in Hindi to pitch their business ideas. Despite proposing that he be allowed to pitch his idea in English, his request was reportedly denied by the show's producers.
"I am not fluent in Hindi. It's a Hindi show. It's a national show." Mr Manikonda said in his LinkedIn post, noting the challenges faced by regional entrepreneurs as a result of these linguistic obstacles.
He acknowledged the need to adhere to the show's concept and maintain its integrity, but he went on to advocate for a way to ensure that regional companies are not marginalised.
Mr Manikonda proposed using artificial intelligence (AI) to translate text in real-time as one possible way to overcome the language barrier.
He underlined the need to resolve this matter in order to guarantee that talented entrepreneurs from areas where Hindi is not spoken are not shut out of chances such as Shark Tank India.
Mr Manikonda expressed optimism despite the setback, saying, "Disappointed, but not out."
The post sparked an intense debate on the social media platform.
While some users suggested hiring a translator for Shark Tank India, other investors said they were prepared to provide funding to his company.
"Maybe a good interpreter would have done the trick?" suggested a user.
Some commenters pointed out that Shark Tank India is intended for Hindi speakers, while others pointed out that the programme is titled Shark Tank India rather than Shark Tank Hindi, implying that the bulk of people in the nation who do not speak Hindi will find it difficult to participate in the reality show.