Why Actors Push Brands

Here is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Anupama: Parineeti, you've only had two releases but you've already signed four brands. Today, how important are brand endorsements for an actor? Are endorsements a key sign of success?

Parineeti: I became an actor in 2012, which is a year where the consumer-actor distance became very small. Endorsements play a very, very big role for actors like me. I feel only doing films today is not enough. We are in a time and age where we have become brands ourselves who are then used to sell other brands. When I was only a consumer and not an actress, a year and a half ago, seeing a celebrity face made a difference when I made a purchase. So, today when I am an actor and I am given an offer, I never say no because I also want to be that much closer to my audience.

Anupama: One of the things that has always bothered me is why so many of our leading male superstars endorse "baniyans" (undershirts). I have never understood the phenomenon. If you are an A-list actor and making lots of money, do you really need to be selling inner wear? Is there any line when it comes to endorsements?

Prasoon Joshi: But why shouldn't they sell a baniyan, it's such an essential part of life. Everybody needs it.

Parineeti: We are doing it for the people who will actually come and watch our films and every one of them wears a baniyan.

Sam Balsara: Let me answer that from a brand's prospective. What is the reason brands choose actors? They want to somehow project a highly differentiated product. Now how to differentiate a baniyan is the costumer's mind? At the end of the day, a baniyan is a baniyan is a baniyan.

Anupama: Prasoon, you told me a great story about going to Dilip Kumar with an ad and he refused you saying, "Hum ishtiharon ke liye nahi bane hain" (I am not made for advertisements.) But today entire acting careers are made of ads and not films. Is this a healthy state of affairs?

Prasoon Joshi: In my head there's no difference between a great film and a great campaign. There is a story, there is a product. Film is also a product. If a good film and a good story gets a very good star like "3 Idiots" and Aamir Khan had a great fit, you have a winner. People remember the 3 Idiots first and Aamir second. Sometimes you see a film becoming a blockbuster without a star, like "Vicky Donor" last year. That can happen in a product also. If you have a great actor and a great celebrity whom people love "woh sone pe suhaga hai" (that's the icing on the cake)

Anupama: Parineeti, if you were offered a role that was really dark and edgy, would you hesitate to take it on because somewhere in your mind you think it may impact your endorsements? Does that influence your choice of roles?

Parineeti: One hundred percent, it does. And I would never do brands that affect my film image. It's a two-way thing. I am doing both with the equal love and passion and because I want to be a certain person in the audience's mind. I am equally committed to both.

Anupama: Satyaki, would an actor's choice of roles influence your decision to use him or her in a campaign?

Satyaki: If there is a role that the actor thinks is really edgy but she wants to do it, we've never gone back to anybody to say that, "Why did you do that?" because personally I believe that the consumer today is quite evolved. They understand that the actors are playing a character. They can differentiate between what an actor stands for and what is the brand they endorse.