SonyLive makes fake murder calls, web series promotion faces backlash

In a shocking turn of events, Smriti Kiran, who is the Artistic Director of the Mumbai Film Festival, has slammed the streaming giant SonyLiv for carrying out a despicable way of promoting their web crime thriller called Undekhi.

In her first tweet, Smriti had shared her concern about receiving a disturbing call from a particular phone number wherein a man said that he has witnessed a murder. He further said that he has recorded the incident on his phone and now the perpetrators are after his life. She also tagged Mumbai Police on Twitter requesting them to look into the matter.

Got a very disturbing call from this number +91 140 880 0135 @MumbaiPolice ...The gentleman said he has witnessed a murder. Has recorded it on his phone & now those people want to kill him. He hung up after that. He was crying & quavering while speaking. Please look into this," she tweeted.

However, later she got to know that it was nothing more than a promotional gimmick that SonyLiv had carried out to promote their web show Undekhi.

Smriti was taken aback with such an insensitive way of promoting a show and shamed SonyLiv for creating a panic-like situation among people.

"Shame on you @SonyLIV I just got to know that this call is a promotional gimmick for your new show. I was on the floor breathless with panic when I got it. Are you out of your mind doing this??? @MumbaiPolice you must take action. This is appalling and unethical," she wrote on Twitter.

Actress Rajshri Deshpande, who was seen playing the role of Ganesh Gaitonde's wife in Netflix's Sacred Games, also asked SonyLiv to stop this gimmick at once.

SonyLiv, on their part, apologised to Smriti for causing discomfort with their act and said that it was a test activity that went out accidentally.

"If you have received a call for our show Undekhi & it has disturbed you we would like to sincerely apologise to you. This was a test activity which has gone out accidentally & our intention was not to cause any kind of discomfort or panic. We sincerely regret any inconvenience," SonyLiv replied to Smriti from their official Twitter handle.

Take a look.