Filmmaker Rosshan Andrrews calls for ban on YouTube reviewers, accuses some of blackmailing producers

Malayalam filmmaker Rosshan Andrrews has requested theatres to ban YouTube reviewers who gatecrash theatres to ask viewers for their opinion on the film.

Popular Malayalam filmmaker Rosshan Andrrews has called for a ban on YouTube reviewers as he feels they are part of a ‘quotation gang’. In a recent interview, he opened up on the state of some reviewers who rip apart a film on its release day and he described them as sadists.

Rosshan Andrrews wants a ban on YouTube reviewers.

Rosshan, whose last release was Nivin Pauly-starrer Saturday Night, said YouTube reviewers should not be allowed to ask moviegoers for their opinion on the film. He accused some of them of blackmailing producers with the clips.

He told Onmanorama, “YouTube reviewers are gate-crashing the venue to ask for the audience's opinion. Then there will be people who have positive and negative things to say about a film. Some are showing this to producers and blackmailing them. If they don’t give money they will only show the ones that had the audience speak negatively about the film. Theatre owners should ban such people from the theatres.”

Speaking about the substandard film reviews, he said, “I asked if the ones who review have ever written a story. Is a film’s pacing decided by a reviewer? The language and style they use are so substandard. They have only derision for everyone.”

He added that there are people who threaten producers to publish negative reviews. “Here we have a quotation gang. There are those who take 2 lakhs and tweet positive reviews,” he said.

Recently, filmmaker Anjali Menon made a similar remark on critics. She said that they should know how films are made before they comment. In a clip from a promotional interview for Wonder Women, she said, “When a critic is writing a review, you should know how a film is made. Their bosses should tell them to learn how to set a film from Raj Kapoor, editing from Hrishikesh Mukherjee. They should learn about the craft from these veterans. Most reviewers don’t even have background knowledge of how to review a film. I think it’s really important to understand how a film is made,” Anjali said.