When we see our favourite celebrities and actors, we think of them as people who are just like us. They can be, but we don’t get to see those parts. We see curated images these days, now that PR and social media are a thing. So probably, everything we get to see, read or listen about them – even when it comes from them – may be someone else’s words and thoughts. You never know.
These PR secrets from Bollywood are proof that we know too little about the industry:
1. “Shraddha’s PR is very good. People don’t realize it and many on social media believe it doesn’t even exist. On the contrary she has one, and it’s very prolific. She’s had many controversies that have just somehow vanished. Everyone talks about Priyanka’s problematic Fair and Lovely endorsement, yet forget Shraddha’s fairness cream endorsements. Shraddha has been painted as this unproblematic queen when she has done pretty much all that other Bollywood actresses have.”
2. “Apparently Janhvi has got the most shrewd and one of the best PR teams. The team is very lowkey. Almost all her movies are promoted as Janhvi’s movies. If you remember Roohi, very few people call it as a Rajkummar Rao’s movie and more as a Janhvi’s one. It lies in the fact of marketing by her PR team.”
3. “Aside from a few paid accounts, most of them are geniune fan accounts. We do give positive news stories and fake likes or comments, but we haven’t really made a lot of fake fanclubs. It’s usually when the actors are at their earlier stages that we pop up a few fake ones. A few actors are against that, a few love the idea. We don’t take hate too seriously, and from research and experience, negative publicity is the last to affect die hard fans. A surprising thing to know for you might be that a lot of hate at times is faked so that the celebrity can speak up about it. We have seen rival PR agencies go to the extent of fake trolling a celeb.”
– Anonymous
4. “Katrina Kaif is known to be rude, but her PR has created this angelic image of hers. RK also has good PR to constantly keep him in the news.”
5. “People are strongly made to believe that Ranbir Kapoor does not have a PR. Even if an agency doesn’t represent him, he has enough strong people to hype him up and maintain it in the media. It’s all a well planned strategy.”
6. Around the release of a movie, we accompany the star everywhere – events, interviews and even to the airport. We handle their communication too, even sending emails and messages for them. Most of the bigger stars in the industry need someone to whet the interviews for them. We do that job. I handle a few “superstars” and, ahead of every release, of the requests they receive, they accept only three. It’s we who help them decide which three.
7. “Often, ‘who’s-dating-whom’ stories are leaked by the actors themselves, so that later, they can feign ignorance. This is done in compliance with the newspaper/channel/magazine. For example, an actor couple may leak pictures of themselves on vacation, and in another interview speak of the media not giving them their space.”
8. “I work in PR. We charge 20 to 30% from brand endorsements/campaigns etc.”
9. “The articles you read and posts you see are mostly paid by agencies except a few. Basically too much PR calculated moves and appearances.”
10. “Alia has terrible PR. Not subtle at all and extremely in your face. I thought Deepika’s was bad but Alia’s has been worse in recent times. It’s like someone’s screaming off the rooftops for Alia. Obnoxious and crazy.”
What can one really believe in?