With more followers than Sara Ali Khan, Jannat Zubair believes actors should be hired for their talent and not social media presence

“What about the fact that the person is talented? That they have been working and that is what you want for your project. You want an actor, you don’t want somebody to publicise and promote it. You can do that (promotions) by paying people. You can do PR,” she said. Jannat added that there are a lot of popular actors in Bollywood who don’t have any social media presence but they are still hired because of their acting talent.

Previously, Janhvi Kapoor said that one’s social media following, no matter how big it is, does not guarantee success for their project. “I think actors today, if they have a social media presence, they are an actor and an influencer. I think being an influencer might make your stardom a little more accessible and so maybe it makes you feel like it’s diminishing but I don’t think you’re stardom, your Instagram following is a testament to your stardom at all. That’s all completely different things,” she told Film Companion.

Jannat shared proudly that as an influencer, her job is to influence people and that’s a “big power.” “It is a very powerful thing. I don’t think people should be ashamed of it,” she said.

Jannat has been promoting her recently released song Babu Shona Mona. Her first song was launched on her YouTube channel that has over 3.5 million subscribers.