The Opéra National de Bordeaux is under attack for its decision to program “Lakmé” in its upcoming season.

The Universal Society of Hinduism is calling for the company to drop the production from its repertory with Hindu statesman and President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, releasing a statement.

“It was highly irresponsible for an establishment like ONB to choose such an opera which had been blamed for caricaturing, appearance of mocking of ‘other’ cultures, colonial terminology, degrading and offensive elements, dehumanizing portrayal, essentialism, narratives often failing to represent ‘other’ cultures with dignity and humanity, imperialistic outlook, justifying ideas of superiority, looking down on people and customs, misrepresentation, considerably wrong about the culture it was supposed to be portraying, needless appropriation of cultural motifs, patronizing flawed mishmash of centuries-old orientalist stereotypes, pseudo and unabashed orientalism, reimagining Hindu traditions-practices-deities, shallow exoticism based on prejudice, etc. ONB could do better than this to serve its diverse stakeholders,” Zed said in a statement that is nearly a word for word copy of a similar proclamation he made to the Washington Concert Opera when that company decided to put on that same opera in its 2022 season.

Zed is calling for the arts organization to re-evaluate its systems and procedures to ensure that executives take cultural sensitivity training. Zed also made the same recommendation to the Washington Concert Opera.

The Washington Concert Opera went through with its performances back then. Opéra National de Bordeaux is set to present the Délibes piece on Feb. 24-26, 2025. In recent years, “Lakmé” has appeared at the Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur, Teatro Real de Madrid, and Opernhaus Zürich.

“Lakmé” is set in Indian during the British Raj. It depicts Hindu rituals from a European perspective and follows the story of the titular heroine and her romance with the British officer Gérald.

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