Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions is nothing less than iconic. He creates a world full of glitz and glam, something to dream about.
However, all that glitters is not gold, as the production house hides a dirty secret.
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Since 2019, most of Dharma’s films have not performed well. Only one of the four films they released in theatres in 2024 managed to recover some money.
Dharma’s net profits have dropped from ₹11 crore in 2023 to just ₹59 lakh in 2024, all only in a year.
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Jigra, starring Alia Bhatt, was made on a budget of ₹80 crore, with the actress also serving as a co-producer alongside Dharma.
There were murmurs within Dharma and the film trade that the movie wasn’t likely to be a commercial success.
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However, Dharma did its best to maintain the illusion that Jigra was going to be a hit.
It heavily promoted the film on social media, but in reality, most of the comments came from people who knew the stars or the makers.
Four days before its release, to everyone’s surprise, Dharma announced that it would not be holding any press screenings, which typically take place a day or two before the actual release for critics.
Shedding light on this, a senior executive at Yash Raj Films revealed that 70-80% of these critic reviews were paid, and Dharma’s decision to stop press screenings indicated that they had stopped paying for reviews.
While reviews can’t turn a flop film into a hit, they can at least boost ticket sales by 10-15%.
The YRF executive even disclosed that there is a “menu card” for such paid reviews.
This card listed the names of many well-known news channels and portals that charged between ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh per review!
The list also revealed the names of several film critics, including Bollywood’s biggest film critic, who charges around ₹75,000 per review.
Smaller critics charge around ₹20,000-₹25,000, while a critic from the South charges ₹15,000 per review.
Such dirty PR gimmicks aren’t exclusive to Dharma Productions, many other production houses do the same.
However, these tricks are destroying Bollywood rather than helping it grow in the direction that audiences hope for.
