Shark Tank India: Fashion designer, shot down by Ashneer Grover, says his wife wore her clothes on Kapil Sharma Show

Shark Tank India, a business reality show where budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors aka 'sharks' for funds, had its finale on February 4. The sharks Ashneer Grover, Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Ghazal Alagh, Namita Thapar and Peyush Bansal have so far invested in 67 businesses to the tune of Rs 41.98 crore in 30 episodes of its first season. One of the 198 pitches, shortlisted from the 62,000 applications, was by fashion designer Niti Singhal. She presented on the show her idea and model of her fashion business and unfortunately, faced harsh criticism from the BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover.

Niti was pitching her business venture Twee In One on the show, which is based on convertible and reversible clothing. Ashneer did not quite like the idea and gave a blunt response. Grover has become popular for his harsh response and criticism on the show, many of which have also become part of hilarious memes. While listening to Niti's pitch, he said, "It's very bad fashion. I don't think anyone will wear this. You should shut this down. Why are you wasting your time? Aap mummy ke saath baith ke lehenge bech loge toh do lakh ka bik jayega." He suggested her to instead sell lehengas with her mother, which he seems to believe will earn her more money. But the comments did not seem to have affected Niti. She told the Hindustan Times that she has developed a thick skin, hearing criticism for her product over the years. She said, "With the kind of product I have, there has been critical feedback for a long time. I am used to it. Even mentors in the fashion industry said a few harsh things over the years." She has had experienced such feedback, but she said, they have never been as harsh as Grover's. "I believe in my product so I have the confidence to face all criticism. And in the end, any PR is good PR, even if people are talking bad about it," she added. 

She further said they weren't even the harshest comments on the show as the channel edits many of those comments. His speech was cut in half. She said one could then imagine the kind of impact it would have had on her and her team hearing it on the show. Such harsh comments went on for long, according to what she said to the portal. "But not like unke bolne se mera business band hoga. I was just thinking it's good. TRP badh rahi hai," she added. Grover called her clothes 'impractical' and said, "Mere ghar me to tumhare kapde koi nahi pehenega." 

The designer soon pointed out the irony. Though Grover believes that nobody in his house would want to wear them, his wife seems to think otherwise. His wife Madhuri wore her clothes that she had gifted Grover on The Kapil Sharma Show. She said it was kind of funny and she was reminded of his line that he says often on the show, "Yeh sab dogalapana hai". However, she said the show is unscripted. 

Niti always wanted to be part of the Shark Tank Show. She couldn't try for the original US show as applicants need to be US citizens, she is glad that she could present her business ideal to the sharks on the Indian version of the show. She started working on her application in May-June 2021 on the Sony Liv app. After several rounds of applications, document-vetting, and interviews, Niti finally got to the sets in December and pitched her brand to the sharks. "It's completely unscripted. You aren't allowed to meet the sharks before or after your pitch. So whatever you see there is genuine," she said.