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 skincare and haircare brand — Lewisia Wellness — founded by Dr Manoj Das. He sought funding of ₹1 crore for 1 per cent equity at a valuation of ₹100 crore. 

The pitch was a flop from the word go. At the start of his pitch, Das claimed to be an aromatherapist and natural therapist and began throwing one catchphrase after the other. Going ahead, he revealed that he became a content creator before becoming an entrepreneur. 

Manoj said that he entered the beauty industry in 2003 after doing a beauty culture course. 14 years later, he started creating 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 Skin Affairs, but had to change due to the trademark policy. 

Soon after this, he shows his videos, which were mostly pseudoscientific in nature, as one of the thumbnails read "Haldi ke paani se glass skin paayein sirf 7 din ke andar". He was also questioned for his claims of making chemical-free products after Aman Gupta and Minimalist's Mohit Yadav spotted Sodium Benzoate in one of his products.

The sharks could not trust Manoj's claims or his products because they were not clinically tested. After seeing his videos, Mittal and Yadav call him out for preying on people's insecurities, such as those arising from hairfall 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 pitch, Das also revealed that over 50 per cent of his sales come from his website. He revealed that his brand has a 3.5 rating on marketplaces and says that there are only 50 reviews. 

Anupam and the other sharks were not impressed at all and said that there should have been way more reviews for his brand, which claimed sales of around ₹5 crore. Aman says, "Kuch to gadbad hai, sir," to which Anupam asks, "Tum kya kaand karne aaye ho?"

Not the provocative reels or the very few reviews of his products, the fact that ticked off the investors was that Das called himself a 'doctor'. 

Towards the end, Mittal lost his cool and said that he could not even wish the best of luck for the future, adding that Das was fooling the consumers. 

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

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

Aman said, "Agar maine isme paisa daal diya toh main apne aap, apne country, business aur paise ke saath galat karunga."

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