Bollywood thriller Jigra recently faced a significant box-office failure, grossing under INR50 million on its opening day. Despite extensive pre-release promotions and alleged paid positive reviews, the film couldn’t attract audiences.
Industry insiders reveal that paying for favourable reviews is a common practice in Bollywood, with producers and actors employing this strategy to influence first-week earnings by 10-15%. “It is an open secret in the film industry that 70-80% of the reviews are paid reviews,” stated a senior Yash Raj Films executive.
Marketing firms provide “rate cards” detailing fees for services like live-tweeting and hyping pre-release content, with packages ranging between INR5 million and INR50 million. However, this tactic has led to extortion, with influencers threatening negative publicity if not compensated.
Jigra‘s failure highlights that even aggressive marketing and paid reviews can’t guarantee a film’s success, emphasizing the importance of genuine audience engagement.
