Shark Tank India 5: Namita Thapar and Aman Gupta slam natural skincare brand Founder for calling himself a ‘Doctor’; Anupam Mittal says 'Pakde gaye toh jail jaoge'

Shark Tank India returned with season 5 and the latest episode featured a natural skincare and haircare brand Lewisia Wellness. Founder Dr Manoj Das, an Aromatherapist and Natural therapist (A practitioner who uses essentials oils and aromatic plant extracts to support physical and emotional well-being) started the pitch on an interesting note by throwing catchy phrases one after the other and revealed he became a content creator before an entrepreneur. His brand Lewisia Wellness sells hair, skin and health care products which he claimed are made of natural ingredients. His ask was 1 Cr fr 1 percent equity at the valuation of Rs 100 crores. However, he presented his pitch, the Sharks raised many queries regarding his business and products. They also called out him for claiming to be a doctor.

Manoj revealed he got into beauty industry in 2003 when he finished his beauty culture course. In 2017 he started creating YouTube videos in the beauty category and after massive views on videos, he started his business in 2020. The brand has four categories - Skin Affairs, Lewisia In-organics, Wellness Beat and Tatvam. However, Manoj stated that it was his biggest mistake to start four categories. He revealed they launched the business with sunscreen under Skin Affairs but had to change due to government trademark policy. Now, the brand has applied for trademarks across all product classes under Lewisia Wellness. Aman Gupta questioned Manoj's claim of not using chemicals in his product and new Shark Mohit Yadav of Minimalist dismissed his claims.

Manoj Das failed to explain his vision and numbers of his business which created a lot of questions in the minds of all the sharks. They refused to trust Manoj's business numbers and claims made by his products as they were not even clinically tested. Anupam confronted Manoj Das and stated, "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." He asked the pitcher to show his reels and after watching the videos, Anupam called Manoj's claims 'baseless'. However, what angered the Sharks most was calling himself a doctor.

Anupam grills him for referring to himself as a doctor and asks whether someone who is an aromatherapist or natural therapist is actually allowed to use the title “doctor.” He asked, "Pehle ek baat batao, aap Aromatherapist hain, natural therapist hai, so usmein doctor aap likh sakte hain? Agar aap keh raho ho ke aap Bachelors in Aromatherapist kar rahe ho aur aap doctor naam laga sakte ho main bhai apna naam badal dunga. Bhaiya diligence mein pakde jaaoge." Aman sided with Anupam and says, "This is fraud."

Kunal asks the founder to show the ratings and feedback on his website. The pitcher introduces himself as a naturopathy and aromatherapy expert and reveals that the brand has a 3.5 rating, which fails to impress the Sharks. Anupam questions the credibility of the reviews, suggesting they may have been bought, a claim Manoj denies, saying there are only 50 reviews. Anupam remains unconvinced and points out that a brand claiming sales of Rs 5 crore should have far more customer feedback. Aman remarks, “Kuch gadbad hai, sir,” while Anupam asks, “Tum kya kaand karne aaye ho?” Kunal Bahl slams him for claiming to cure all disease. Mohit was the first to back out and he made it very clear that Manoj is playing on users insecurity and using clickbait content creation to sell his non-scientific products. Namita was the next, who refused to support him. She called his business unethical and misleading consumers. Kunal also backed out and also specified that he hopes no one invests in his business. Aman looked disappointed and slammed him for using doctor's tag.

He said, "Agar maine ismein paisa daal diya toh main apne country, business aur paise ke saath galat karunga." Anupam Mittal lost his cool on Manoj Das and claimed he was fooling the Indian consumers. He said, "Manoj aap social media par ho isliye nazar nahi aarahe, jab aaoge toh sidha jail jaaoge. I think you should leave and I won't even wish you a good luck."

None of the Sharks offered him any deal.

Shark Tank India returns with its fifth season. The reality show brings a mix of familiar faces and new judges. Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal, Peyush Bansal, Vineeta Singh, Ritesh Singh, Kunal Bahl and Viraj Bahl continue on the panel. Amit Jain is back on the show after season 2, while new Sharks Mohit Yadav, Shaily Mehrotra, Hardik Kotia and Kanika Tekriwal join the lineup this year.