Thai BL Actor Pond Naravit Under Fire for Concert Performance

Thai actor Pond Naravit, known for his roles in BL series, including “Me and Thee” and “Never Let Me Go”, faces backlash following concert performance.

During the first day of PondPhuwin concert, the actor performed “Helikopter”, a Bosnian song by artist Fazlija.

The actor surprised the audience descending from a yellow helicopter, however it wasn’t long before specific elements of the performance led to controversy.

Attire

The attire selected for Pond’s performance consisted of two Indian traditional garments: pagri (or pagdi) and sherwani. Pagri is the traditional Hindi turban, a cloth winded by hand around the head, while sherwani is a long-sleeved coat that falls below the knees and is buttoned down the front.

Backlash

With the addition of dance moves that seemed to mimic gestures from the Indian classical dance Bharatnatyam, the performance faced criticism from the majority of the Indian audience.

The main reason is that “Helikopter” isn’t an Indian song, but a Balkan track. This led to the conclusion that the show was sterotypical and there had been no research carried out on the represented culture.

Moreover, the dance was considered a caricature of Indian dances rather than cultural appreciation, as it focused on moves that have been used as mockery for the Indian culture.

A few netizens speculate that the performance could be the result of ignorance rather than intentional mockery. They do agree, however, that if the company intended to set up a comical show, they should’ve avoided implicating any cultural elements.

What outraged fans the most was that, after the initial wave of complaints, the production continued with the scheduled performance for the following two days of the show instead of removing it.

The audience has been asking for the company and the actor to issue an apology and hold accountability.