Shark Tank India: Anupam Mittal busts 8 myths surrounding the business reality show

Shark Tank India has been praised for bringing such a revolutionary concept into the Indian reality TV space and providing the country’s budding entrepreneurs, a chance to make it big in the business world. So, it’d be natural that a show as popular as that would get amid a few misconceptions among audiences. Anupam Mittal , founder and CEO of Shaadi.com, who serves as a judge on the show, decided to unravel a few myths surrounding the show with a LinkedIn post.

Myth 1: The series is scripted

This claim had been addressed by other sharks as well, and Mittal joins them to reiterate that the show is ‘NOT scripted’. On the contrary, he said he was surprised when he realised that he would only get to meet the contestants and hear their pitches the moment they walked in. What follows, the emotions, drama and everything else, is all real, he said.

Myth 2: The sharks do not invest their own money

Mittal considers this claim nonsensical in every way. Echoing that the money the sharks invest is indeed their own, he added that the high points and low points would not be as impactful if the judges made investment decisions with someone else’s money.

Myth 3: They are unnecessarily rude

Mittal said that more often than not, audiences mistook the sharks’ passion for rudeness. He said that all the sharks wanted every contestant to succeed, irrespective of whether their success arises out of the Shark Tank India show or not. That is why they tend to react strongly if they witnessed someone make an impractical pitch, although their idea had potential.

Myth 4: The sharks take substantial stakes in companies

Mittal talked about how, when the sharks made a deal, they would be investing not only their money but also their time and effort. So, they had to make sure that they were comfortable with whatever investment decision they made.

Myth 5: The main reason the sharks appear on the show is to build their own image

While admitting that appearing on the show would help the sharks get more exposure for their brands, Mittal said that the bigger aim of the show was to expand and democratise business and entrepreneurship in the country.

Myth 6: They overlook companies deserving of an investment

As seasoned businesspersons themselves, the sharks were in a position to better gauge whether a contestant was deserving of their investment or not. Mittal also revealed that contestants benefitted immensely by being on Shark Tank India in terms of the exposure their brand got, irrespective of whether they got a deal from the sharks or not. He also mentioned how some companies were able to generate more than a month of sales in just one day due to their appearance on the show.

Myth 7:The show is different from its US version

This is a claim that Mittal can get behind, saying that the show was tailored to fit Indian audiences and scenarios. Although the format is identical, the differences in culture and the like necessitated a different form of the show, giving the example of the Indian game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, which is based on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Myth 8: The sharks only have a single outfit

Mittal lets viewers in on a secret when it comes to the sharks’ wardrobe, opening up about how they had requested the makers to get them multiple copies of the same outfits. He also said that although the judges changed outfits several times during the show, the makers ensured that each combination of sharks wore similar kinds of looks, keeping with how it was done on the international versions of the show as well.