Is there a nude in the balcony?: Anupama Chopra on misleading publicity campaigns

If the Hindi film industry does not stop misusing its publicity machine, it risks not knowing when the emperor has no clothes, Chopra says.

Last week, I got an email from a publicist asking that I review a marquee show. It was a standard request, except for the line that said: “Kindly inform me about… the charges… We are looking at mainly a positive review.”

Publicity campaigns can be fun. Deadpool was promoted with a Tinder profile for the bumbling superhero, and a set of masked red emojis. The Dark Knight team released fake dollar bills as collectibles (centre).

Two years ago, I received a more blatant offer, via text. “Wanted to check if you are open to doing paid movie reviews. If yes, request you to please let me know how we can go about it,” that