Is Sara Ali Khan's team spinning a middle-class image? Reddit’s BollyBlindsNGossip admin gives us their take

Hindustan Times got the inside scoop on the world of Bollywood grapevine through an interview with EccentricBai, the moderator of Reddit's BollyBlindsNGossip.

Sara Ali Khan has charmed audiences with her relatable persona, from her auto rides to her confession that her mom, Amrita Singh, handles her finances. However, Reddit's community BollyBlindsNGossip states that this narrative is more than just a coincidence. According to the community, it is a carefully crafted tale spun by her team to keep her relatable and lovable in the eyes of the public.

Sara Ali Khan is quite active on social media.

Sara’s PR game

When it comes to spilling the tea on Bollywood, Reddit has become the go-to platform, with r/BollyBlindsNGossip reigning supreme as the destination for juicy gossip and scoops from the glamorous filmy world.

Hindustan Times got the inside scoop on the wild world of Bollywood grapevine through an exclusive interview with EccentricBai, the founder and moderator of r/BollyBlindsNGossip. The conversation was facilitated by Reddit India.

There's often chatter about PRs seeding stories about their clients to fuel a positive narrative, while sometimes simultaneously tearing down other stars to elevate their own.

So, how do you approach moderation?

“I haven’t come across an intelligent PR Professional yet. We have blatantly (got) PR driven posts like praising a celeb for something. It is shot down by members by giving counterexamples. You can’t promote a positive story about a celeb on Reddit. It’ll be destroyed by counter facts,” EccentricBai (EB) tells us.

Picking up a reference, EccentricBai adds, “For example, Sara Ali Khan and her 'Middle class’ attitude being promoted by her team is never appreciated here. Ananya Pandey’s 'Improvement in acting’ claim is also not bought by this Sub. Members manage to see through every PR move”.

PR narratives dominating Bollywood

In the interview, the moderator revealed that it's surprisingly easy to spot PR-driven narratives.

“It is not hard as PR is dumb. They don’t understand Reddit at all. Even our members can spot orchestrated campaigns. The PR posts are laden with cliches, usually made by new accounts and posted on multiple Subreddits. It is easy to check the post history of any account. No one has ever run a successful orchestrated campaign on my Subreddit,” says EccentricBai, who started this Subreddit and has been with it since 2018.

At the moment, the subreddit community has a total of 12 active mods, and boasts over 2.2 million followers.

"This community is a melting pot of many conflicting ideas and people. Fans and anti-fans, Gossip mongers and cynics, Real insider sources and fake rumour spreaders, they all coexist here,” says the moderator.

Diminishing culture of blind items

According to the moderator, the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput's passing marked an end to the culture of blind items on social media.

“One change I see is that Blind Items have completely stopped after Sushant Singh Rajput's death. If you remember, it was a regular feature in Rajeev Masand’s weekly columns,” says EB.

“Most portals posted a blind everyday. Now Blinds are posted only by Instagram pages. They also pick hints from our comment section and weave a Blind item around it. People used to trust Blinds before, now most Blinds are seen as either rival PR’s mischief or celeb’s own team trying to create some controversy/discussions. I think, over the years, we all can see PR games clearly. I give credit to this Subreddit for opening people’s eyes,” ends the moderator.