Color me not surprised. The baap-beti jodi, don't have an ounce of shame or conscience. It has been their modus operandi since ages. If the movie succeeds, it's Alia's superstardom and revolutionary acting. If it doesn't, first course of action is to manipulate the collections and perception so that it is considered as an above average movie at least. And if even that isn't possible due to the outright abysmal collections like Jigra, put the blame on everyone from the Director to the rival actress' fans.
Jigra drama has been like a train wreck to witness and the (failed) media manipulation has never been so evident. It started with Vasan Bala accidentally revealing that K Jo sent the script to his daughter without asking or even informing him. When everyone pointed out that it is not 'how it should work', everyone from the interviewer, producer, director and daddy dearest came out in defence of their precious daughter. It was so hilarious to watch. There have been much bigger scandalous statements / controversies in the past due to supposed misinterpretation of something that was said in an interview, but no interviewer comes out to ever clarify or defend the statement of the interviewee. In fact, they bask in the buzz that their interview is getting and eye balls it is generating. But of course that cant be the case with Ms. - no - PR Bhatt. So, interviewer has to clarify himself along with every tom, dick and harry associated with the film. And then they claim they are unbothered by twitter opinions 😂 😂
Anyway, after his accidental guffaw, Vasan went into overcompensating mode, practically rolling into ground trying to claim that he has been wanting to work with Alia since time immemorial and is blessed that she looked in the direction of his movie, so that the overlords aren't offended. Now all the eyes were on how Jigra fares at the box office, so that they could, you know, tell how Alia is the biggest superstar since the advent of cinema and how could anyone doubt that each and every director is not DYING to work with the superishtarni (yes, Somen, Jigra's producer used this term, he doesn't know anyone who isn't DYING to work with Alia).
Alas, it turned out that they died anyway, even after working with Alia, as the movie tanked beyond redemption. Now, the only way to salvage the most precious thing in entire Dharma's Productions, i.e., Alia's manufactured stardom, was to overcompensate with how AMAZIIIINNGGG superstar Alia Bhatt was in the movie through their pet media channels (it was easier route also, since barely anyone watched the movie to verify, ask Divya Khola :[P]). Hence, the glowing articles started.
Indian Express released three articles praising / defending the movie, and more importantly, the lead actress, calling Alia the Best Actress of INDIAN CINEMA, not just currently, but across ANY GENERATION. Yeah, so since the advent of Indian Cinema in 1930s, she has been the most exceptional actress till date. Nutan, Waheeda Rahman, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Sharmila Tagore, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan, Sridevi, Madhuri, Vidya Balan, Kajol, Priyanka, Rani, Kareena, Karishma, all have been obliterated by this once in a century talent. And this is just Bollywood, not even counting actresses from other film industries in India. It's amazing how neither the writer, nor the fans feel embarrassed after writing and reading such statements. Anyway, not to be outdone in bootlicking, The Hollywood Reporter, led by the very talented Anupama Chopra, whose talents are adequately employed in defending KJo and his beti as and when needed, came with a ludicrous but bordering on humiliating interview with Vasan Bala.
The opening para of the interview stated that Jigra was negatively affected by fanwars between fans of Alia and Deepika. Now, even in times of absolute desperation, I haven't seen any article for any actor mentioning the fanwars with fans of someone whose movie is not even releasing that week or even that month, as an excuse for failure. But khair, Aloo's PR has always redefined desperation. Then Vasan Bala was asked to discuss in detail how Jigra's failure has affected him and how he has disappointed the superstar Alia Bhatt and KJo who did him a favour by working on his movie. Vasan comes across as absolutely servile in the interview and its kind of tragic to see him letting him go of his self respect when it isn't even going to do him any favours.
And of course there is IndianBoxOffice.com too, which always takes special pleasure in thrashing any female oriented movie (Chhapak, Panga, Thappad, etc.), labelling it a disaster as soon as possible, and dragging through the mud the star power of any big or even medium level heroine who dares to star in a female oriented movie and not make 100 cr. They turned a new leaf for Jigra, and there is not a single word mentioning Alia's box office pull or explicitly labelling movie a disaster or even flop. Though, of course, there is a whole para dedicated to how Vasan is an OTT director with European sensibilities and the penny should drop on him. They are also kind enough to mention that Jigra would still earn enough revenue from digital and satellite to cover the budget, a courtesy, they rarely extend to other movies.
Anyway this whole ride has been FUN. I have been barely following discussions on IF, and this is my only post about the movie, but to watch the whole drama unfold on Twitter in real time has been quite something. It's amazing to see how people are now so AWARE of each and every tactic that KJo has been using for his beti and are able to call it out every time, sometimes even before he makes the move 😂. I know this failure is hardly going to make much difference to Alia's career as the baap-beti duo always have their scapegoats and backup plans ready. Still, it is quite satisfying to see that a large no. of people, at least online ones, are able to see through the manufactured stardom and carefully crafted hype that has been Alia's legacy from past few years.
.Never happened with BOI before.
in the first 10 days, yet no declarations on how it is a disaster of epic proportions. On the top of it, every dumb article that they put out that too in their trademark bad English has been filled with justifications galore.🤣
Kumkum Bhagya
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