‘We don’t believe Alia Bhatt is best actress even when entire media is on her side’: Reddit community BollyBlindsNGossip

EccentricBai, the founder moderator of r/BollyBlindsNGossip, we get an inside look at the community's workings & uncover the biggest scoops.

Actor Alia Bhatt burst onto the Bollywood scene in 2012 with Karan Johar's Student of the Year, and since then, her life has been under constant public scrutiny, with every high and low sparking intense discussion and gossip, especially on Reddit's r/BollyBlindsNGossip. However, according to insiders on the subreddit, Alia is not as great an actor as it is claimed.

Alia Bhatt made her debut with Karan Johar's Student Of The Year at the age of 19.

Alia not the best

Today, Reddit's r/BollyBlindsNGossip has emerged as a go-to platform for Bollywood fans seeking the latest information and scoops about their favourite actors, with the community offering a wealth of insider gossip and juicy tidbits.

Founder Mod EccentricBai started this Subreddit and has been with it since 2018. It has a total of 12 active mods. Currently, the r/BollyBlindsNGossip subreddit boasts over 2.2 million followers, logging in to get a peek into the lives of stars.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, facilitated by Reddit India, we spoke to EccentricBai, the founder and moderator of r/BollyBlindsNGossip, to get an inside look at the community's workings and uncover the biggest scoops emerging from Bollywood.

“We don’t believe Alia is best actress even when the entire media is on her side. We don’t buy struggle stories of Nepo kids. A star kid travelling by auto and being praised by Viral Bhayani and other Pap pages, is ridiculed openly here as ‘PR Stunt’,” EccentricBai (EB) tells us over an email.

Being in the gossip business isn't easy; they have to sift through fact and fiction. Sometimes, they end up taking down scoops that later turn out to be true. The moderator adds, “Alia Bhatt's pregnancy news was posted here, two days before the wedding. We removed the post, only to realise later that it was true. Since then, we let OG gossip be posted under the ‘Exaggerated claims, Unverified Source’ tag."

How does it work

Looking back on the journey of gaining popularity, the moderator gives a special thanks to Hindustan Times for “always giving credit to our Sub”.

“As far as I remember, portals began posting from our Subreddit around 2019, but they never gave credit to our Sub, they simply credited ‘Reddit’ as their source. I think we blew up when my post about Sushant Singh Rajput’s Blind items was shared everywhere after his demise. We discussed how SSR was being targeted via Blind items in this post,” EccentricBai notes, adding, “I look at it as the popularity of Reddit in India. The 2 Million is just beginning, we aren’t even as mainstream as Twitter in India yet."

According to EccentricBai, the 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”.

When it comes to factors leading to the growth of the community, the moderator shares “lack of options to discuss Bollywood gossip without pressure of PR and abusive fans. People fight on Twitter and language is horrible”.

“Comment section of any article on Bollywood is controlled by PR. Our Subreddit is only place where people can freely discuss Bollywood and since the discussions are actively moderated, people do not use crass language. Anonymity also leads to free speech. Basically, we are the only forum where people can discuss and gossip about Bollywood, under set rules of respect and freedom,” adds EccentricBai.