Bollywood has been witnessing a spate of flops and a flurry of controversies. Let's focus on the latter. In every other interview, they are being asked by the media about the boycott campaigns that are run by Netizens. 'Laal Singh Chaddha', 'Raksha Bandhan', 'Shamshera' and 'Dobaara' are four of the recent movies that have apparently been harmed by the campaigns.
When asked for their opinion about the boycott calls, how are Bollywood stars supposed to react? If they say that the boycott calls are much ado about nothing, Netizens who hate Bollywood will double down. If the celebs say that the boycott calls are worrisome, they end up creating the impression that their content is too weak not to fall prey to boycott calls.
There is a third category of stars who want to sound a bit reckless. Alia Bhatt is the latest one to say that those who don't want to watch her movies are free not to do so. This is not controversial at all. But it can be made to look controversial if you don't like the actor who is saying it. Recently, Vijay Deverakonda made similar remarks but he was not ripped apart by the Netizens.
Amidst all the chaos, there is a talk in the Mumbai-based film media that Bollywood stars are thinking of stopping giving pre-release interviews. "Media asking actors to comment on the current state of boycotts, actors commenting, more fuel added to the fire and the game continues. I am pretty sure, the day isn't far when actors will stop interacting with the media and let their trailer, music and content do the talking," tweeted film journalist Himesh Mankad. A similar opinion was today put out by prominent trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
It has to be seen where all this will lead to.
