After Karan Johar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui questions Bollywood’s dependence on paid PR

Siddiqui is hopeful that the time comes soon when the audience is able to distinguish the truth from the lies. “I didn’t know a time would come where I’d pay 10 people to say this is a good actor and the people would even start believing that. Where did their education and analytical skills go? If I ask 10 people to say great things, the 11th one would also say it, on their own. This is very weird. You need to educate yourself,” the actor told Zoom.

He admitted that he often gets the advice to invest in paid PR to aid perception and build his myth as a leading actor. “I get suggestions of all weird kinds. But actors or people like us have confidence within us,” said Siddiqui. He added that he continues to support independent films as an actor and even release them in theatres despite the odds stacked against them, thanks to that very confidence.

Last week, ace filmmaker and top producer Karan Johar also opened up on the prevalent practice of paid PR, arguing that actors now need to let their work on screen speak for themselves instead of indulging in extravagant PR practices that only help them with short-term visibility. “I think Bollywood should stop doing PR. It will be much better,” Johar told The Week.

“They should let their achievement speak for themselves because, unfortunately, all of the PR is now paid PR. If you want someone to say, ‘You are looking gorgeous,’ you just have to pay. If you want someone to say that you are the best actor on planet Earth, you have to pay,” added Johar, echoing Siddiqui’s concern.

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However, unlike Siddiqui, Johar admitted that he’s also invested in paid PR, which makes it only difficult for himself to separate the truth from the manufactured reality. “Now everything is available at a price, and that is something that could be deeply upsetting because then you really can’t gauge what’s connecting and what’s not. Now you look at everything and be like, ‘Are people really liking these things or are they paid to like it?’ I don’t know, I can’t tell half the time. It’s confusing me too because even I sometimes pay for it,” confessed the filmmaker.