Actress Yami Gautam, married to Dhurandhar director Aditya Dhar, has voiced strong criticism of what she describes as a “growing trend” in Bollywood—paying money under the pretext of marketing to artificially build hype.
According to her, those who decline to participate are deliberately subjected to negative publicity even before their films hit the theatres.
Labeling this practice as extortion and a harmful culture that could jeopardise the future of Indian cinema, she called on producers, directors, and actors to take a collective stand against it.
Yami Gautam Slams the Culture of Paid Hype
On Thursday, Yami wrote on X, “There is something I’ve been wanting to express since really long, I feel today is that day & I must. This so-called trend of giving money, in the disguise of marketing a film, to ensure good ‘hype’ for a film is created, or else ‘they’ will continuously write negative things (even before the film is released), until you pay ‘them’ money feels nothing but kind of extortion. Just because this arrangement is accessible to anyone- whether to ‘hype’ a film or spread negativity against another actor/a film is a plague that is going to affect the future of our industry in a big way.”
She further stated, “Unfortunately, if anyone feels- it’s harmless & let’s do it because it’s the new ‘normal’, is mistaken. This monster of a ‘trend’ is eventually going to bite everyone. If truth is exposed about a million things under the garb of who & what ‘success’ is over the past 5 years esp, unfortunately, it’s not going to be a pretty picture for many.”
Yami Gautam Urges the Industry to Stand Together
The Haq actress emphasised that “No one can dare do such things because the industry stands united on lot of fronts.” She appealed to the film community to work together to put an end to this troubling practice.
She went on to say, “I say this as a wife of an extremely honest man who has given everything to this film with his undying hardwork, vision & grit along with his team to create something that I know India shall be proud of.
I say this as a deeply concerned member of the fraternity who, like many other industry professionals, wishes to see Indian cinema blossom with its best potential & not the other way around.
Let’s not kill the joy of filmmaking & presenting it to the world & letting the audience decide what they feel. We need to protect our industry environment,” she concluded.
Her remarks come just a day before the release of Dhar’s Dhurandhar, which has recently drawn attention for negative press.
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