Deepika Padukone, Kriti Sanon’s skincare brands ‘not a very good idea’, says Shark Tank India judge

Bollywood celebrities have broadened their revenue stream and are now actively pursuing entrepreneurship as their side hustle. Actors like Deepika Padukone and Kriti Sanon have their skincare brands, and they have been actively promoting them since launch. But, contrary to what a layperson might think, celebrity-led brands can’t just be successful because the founder is widely known. Shark Tank India judge Shaily Mehrotra, who also has a skincare brand, said that it’s not a very good idea for celebrities to enter the skincare space as the consumer is more interested in reading labels than looking at whose picture is on the packaging.

In a chat with Soha Ali Khan on her YouTube channel, Shaily was asked about the skincare lines of Deepika, Kriti and Mira Kapoor. She said, “I don’t think it’s a very good idea. The brand is associated with their name; it might sell… It won’t happen now. The customer is very different right now. 15 years ago, the customer was very different. They were really attracted by celebrities and their faces but right now, they are reading the label, they want to understand the formulation, the ingredients, how it is going to work on their skin. The awareness is on a different level.”

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Soha then asked Shaily if consumers actually buy products after seeing celebrity endorsements and to this, she shared that a consumer in tier 2 or tier 3 city might be attracted to it, but the awareness in a tier 1 city is quite elevated. “I think that would work in tier 2 cities or tier 3 cities where they aspire to look like a celebrity but in tier 1 cities, Mumbai and Delhi, actually they want the product to perform,” she said.

Shaily Mehrotra then spoke about Mira’s brand and said that people won’t buy it because she is associated with it, but if the products perform well, then it will find its takers. “For example, with Mira, they know it’s her brand. They will not buy it because it’s her brand, they will buy it because the performance is good. I am talking about only tier 1 cities where the awareness is on a different level,” she said.

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The recently concluded season of Shark Tank India was Shaily’s first attempt at television. In a chat with Nitin Joshi on his podcast, Shaily said that when she joined the show, she faced a lot of pressure as she “feared” whether the OG judges will let her speak her thoughts freely. “All of us were staying in the same hotel when one of the sharks told me that the OG sharks bully newcomers a lot. They don’t let them speak,” she said.

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However, she took matters into her own hands and decided to speak to the judges before she joined them on the panel. “When I met all of them, I told them beforehand that one of you told me that you all bully newcomers and don’t let them speak. They were stunned. They were like, ‘This is bad. You think we are capable of doing that?’ I said, how would I know? I’ll only know later. But I think they understood this, and it worked for me. In every pitch, Anupam would turn towards me and say, ‘Ab aap bolo!’ So that felt nice. They were nice to me. It was super entertaining — I have laughed the most on this show. It was also super tiring. We would shoot for 12–13 hours at a stretch,” she said.

DISCLAIMER: The commentary expressed in this article reflects the personal business insights of the speaker regarding consumer market trends and commercial packaging. This content is intended purely for informational and entertainment purposes and does not constitute dermatological, clinical, or professional skincare advice.