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Decoding Bollywood: How do most rumours get started in Bollywood
Chatpati Chawla | Jun 26, 2014, 18:02PM IST
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Bollywood is a kingdom of mysteries and secrets. We only get to hear a small part of what happens behind the closed doors, and even that little information, which you read or watch on TV about your Bollywood star, could be a part of a deliberate strategy planned by the manager of your favorite star to create positive image for their client or defame the competitor. Here's an attempt to unravel how PR plants work in Bollywood news.
Recently, online media was abuzz with reports' that Kareena Kapoor Khan has signed Singh is Bling' opposite Akshay Kumar. Bafflingly, it's taken two weeks for newcomer Kriti Sanon, the girl who impressed in Heropanthi, to be cast opposite the Khiladi in this film.
This casting contest reiterates these news reports' about Bollywood's leading women are nothing more than PR plants. And their sole purpose, is to establish that a heroine, with diminishing Box Office value, is back' in the news as a serious contender' for an anticipated film. That a film, yet unmade, might tank and turn out to be a bad choice, is irrelevant to the mindless, competitive world of film PR.
Here's an attempt to unravel how PR plants work in Bollywood news. In the past 8 years, public relations managers (PR managers) have become the norm as filters between stars and the media. This is a competitive sector, with 6 leading firms managing the press for most Bollywood stars. As stars are just a handful, and the women amongst them cut throat competitive, PR firms and their army of managers are now viewed as image managers and damage control experts.
In reality, they do more harm than good. Competing over a new film opposite a leading hero,
which was usually limited to sending out feelers' or text messages to the filmmaker, and producer, and the hero, now has another dimension. In times of great desperation, the PR manager will step in and inform' their friends in the film press' about a heroine's casting opposite the coveted film. This is done to add pressure on the filmmaker.
A good example of this is the casting of Mohenjo Daro'. An ambitious period film opposite Hrithik Roshan, everyone's names from Deepika Padukone, to Priyanka Chopra, to Kareena Kapoorto Katrina Kaif was thrown in as having been cast opposite Hrithik' for this film. In reality, Rakeysh Roshan had confirmed that the hunt is on for a new face in this role. But the PR managers of these leading ladies, actually just two companies, kept planting these stories. The casting conundrum took a funny turn when Sonakshi Sinha stated her interest in working in the film. Gowarikar, meanwhile, kept a huffed silence, baffled by these constant news reports.
The PR plants process is not a difficult one these days.
The PR plants process is not a difficult one these days.
Tabloids and newspapers have to compulsorily fill pages of Bollywood news' (frankly, there is no such thing). Young reporters compete for attention of these 6 established PR firms regularly. So feeding them a story, because they are hungry for news, is easy. Add to that, an occasional cup of coffee and a smiling, happy quick chat with a heroine, and the star struck young reporter is often floored and will write out their grocery list (Actually, if you keep a keen tab on the two leading tabloids of Mumbai, they do tend to look like grocery lists of film stars at times).
PR plants don't just work actively for Kareena Kapoor, or Priyanka Chopra. The men are no different either. Being out of the news can get cagey for male leading men too. Recently, a Khan, who is known to do one film a year with tiresome publicity and marketing, ensured that a story about a female co star being floored' and moony' over him made it to print. His PR strategist worked over time to feed it to the forever hungry digital press. The female co star, younger to him, but a performing actress in her own right, was upset about being linked to a senior, married actor. She must have raised the issue. Miraculously, the story was removed from All the websites that had carried it, within two hours! This should give you a good idea of the scale of control that PR managers have over the so called unbiased media. Also the fact that the said Khan nearly stomped his feet through wooden floorboards for a song in his last monster hit, and rode bikes on ropes, was Not considered worth critiquing or talking about. Senior members of the media are wary of taking on PR managers of such powerful Bollywood stars. Pity!
Primarily, sections of film media are to blame for this PR induced mega trap. Press releases sometimes tell you how an actor is unhappy for social media poked fun at his passions', or that an actress who has been hiding her face from photographers at every turn, is actually a good friend of the press and very popular with them'.
When illusions of the dramatically unrealistic, artistic mind turn into press releases' and are dressed up as facts, it is for the press to ask the question, does anyone care? Is this true, or just rubbish? Sadly, select few media people do that anymore.
To be fair, not all actors prefer to have a 24/7 PR machinery documenting every aspect of their life for public consumption. "I don't' keep a PR manager, I prefer my films to do the talking, and wouldn't want PR to take precedence', said Ranbir Kapoor. Hilariously, his PR manager of three years ago, still pretends to manage his work', such is her hunger for big starry accounts!
"I don't want to hire a publicist for myself, our films are publicized anyway," Vidya Balan echoes Ranbir Kapoor. "I have a manager for my endorsements, events and brand related work. I don't need a PR person, for I have not much to speak about if I don't have a film coming up", says Esha Gupta.
Sometimes, PR managers can turn against their actors, and these relationships of image management can come crashing down. Sonam Kapoor had an experience like that when her previous PR firm, which also handles Deepika Padukone's work. Her differences with her PR team came to the fore during the Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' casting stories. Increasingly, sections of digital media reported that Deepika is being considered for this film. Sonam was pretty upset with these reports, and then a story in a leading paper with claims to a flaming torch of courage' on it's masthead, suddenly pitted Deepika above Sonam and the rest out of the blue. What really transpired between Sonam and the said PR firm, is anybody's guess. But she was upset, felt devalued and the firm didn't make bones about who is the priority client here (Deepika being the super success of 2013, she was the bigger catch). Sonam replaced them immediately.
"I don't want to hire a publicist for myself, our films are publicized anyway," Vidya Balan echoes Ranbir Kapoor. "I have a manager for my endorsements, events and brand related work. I don't need a PR person, for I have not much to speak about if I don't have a film coming up", says Esha Gupta.
Sometimes, PR managers can turn against their actors, and these relationships of image management can come crashing down. Sonam Kapoor had an experience like that when her previous PR firm, which also handles Deepika Padukone's work. Her differences with her PR team came to the fore during the Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' casting stories. Increasingly, sections of digital media reported that Deepika is being considered for this film. Sonam was pretty upset with these reports, and then a story in a leading paper with claims to a flaming torch of courage' on it's masthead, suddenly pitted Deepika above Sonam and the rest out of the blue. What really transpired between Sonam and the said PR firm, is anybody's guess. But she was upset, felt devalued and the firm didn't make bones about who is the priority client here (Deepika being the super success of 2013, she was the bigger catch). Sonam replaced them immediately.
Celina Jaitley lost her PR manager, and the support of her entire staff in Mumbai, when she got pregnant during her honeymoon. They dropped me like a hot potato, none of my relationships seemed to matter', recalls Celina, sadly. Salman Khan does not have an official PR person either.
PR managers that work with stars for a long time are replaced with caution, even when a star is tired of them. This is primarily because they are privy to a lot of confidential information, awkward secrets and embarrassing details of a star's life. Sometimes, they also save a star's reputation. Recently, a secret rendezvous of a much married action star with a young, favored female co star of his was clicked on camera, but was buried deep within by their PR manager. In such situations, the PR person becomes irreplaceable, holding a ghoulish control over his/her star.
So the next time you read about a fabulous new film, or fabulous new role, or a fabulous new deal regarding a shining Bollywood star, take it with a pinch of salt. Do not treat it as a fact. Sometimes, nothing could be further from the truth! And the news report might be as much fiction as a film!
So the next time you read about a fabulous new film, or fabulous new role, or a fabulous new deal regarding a shining Bollywood star, take it with a pinch of salt. Do not treat it as a fact. Sometimes, nothing could be further from the truth! And the news report might be as much fiction as a film!
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