Ahead of the release of her husband Aditya Dhar’s film Dhurandhar (starring Ranveer Singh), actor Yami Gautam sparked a major industry debate by publicly condemning the “paid hype trend” in Bollywood. In a detailed and strongly-worded social media post, Gautam described this growing culture as a “plague” and a form of “extortion,” where certain entities allegedly demand money, disguised as marketing fees, to generate positive buzz for a film.
She warned that if filmmakers refuse to pay, these same entities will continuously write negative pieces or spread fabricated negativity, often even before the film hits the screens. She argued that this toxic arrangement—which can be used to either boost one film or sabotage another—is detrimental, stressing that the truth about the true success of many films over the past five years could be exposed if this practice were laid bare.
Gautam appealed to the entire fraternity—producers, directors, and actors—to unite and actively discourage this “termite of a culture” to protect the future and integrity of Indian cinema, noting that similar manipulative trends are not common in the more unified South Indian film industries.
Her bold statement immediately drew significant support from her former Kaabil co-star, Hrithik Roshan. Roshan publicly backed Gautam’s stance, emphasizing the fundamental harm this practice causes not only to the creative forces but also to the media itself. He highlighted that when a financial transaction dictates the narrative, the “journalist’s true voice” is the golden thing that gets lost.
Roshan stressed that manufactured hype usurps the journalist’s right to freedom of expression and, more importantly, deprives filmmakers of genuine, honest feedback—the only thing that has the potential to help them evolve and grow creatively.
By supporting Gautam, Roshan amplified the core message: that without truth guiding the industry’s discourse, neither the artists nor the reviewers can find real job satisfaction or contribute to the genuine progress of cinema. The exchange brought a critical, often whispered, issue into the public domain, making it a major talking point just before Dhurandhar’s release.
