Celeb interview is dead

The past year was arguably Shah Rukh Khanrsquos who delivered three backtoback hitsmdashPathaan Jawan and Dunkimdashafter a fiveyear break from leading roles 2023 was witness to the SRK fandom back in action selling out shows for weeks creating fan edits of popular scenes and ensuring his songs were hits on social media before the films they were featured in could be releasedBut an essential element of the SRK package was conspicuously absent the uncensored witty interviews that the actor is known formdashthe ones where he regales both the interviewer and audience with charm and wisecracks What happened in the years between 2019 when the actor sat down with David Letterman for a special episode of the TV hostrsquos show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction and now For one Khan and his family were put through a trial when his son Aryan was arrestedmdashand exoneratedmdashin a narcotics case that was fodder for weeks of primetime news debatesShah Rukh Khan had three releases this year and gave zero interviews PicsGetty ImagesInstead of freewheeling interviews fans now look forward to the actorrsquos beloved ldquoAsk SRKrdquo AMA sessions on X where hemdashand not the agency who manages himmdashaddresses their questions concerns and wishes The simplest earnest questions are answered ldquoLove winters It gives reason to hug your loved ones to keep warmrdquo Khan wrote to a fan who asked him what his favourite season isIs the superstarrsquos decision to keep away from media interviews also a sign of a growing chasm between Hindi cinemarsquos biggest faces and the Indian media Veteran journalist Bharti Dubey is of the opinion that Khan has set something of a precedent ldquoHe didnrsquot do any press and yet his films were super hits Actually stars aside from SRK too donrsquot need the lsquointerviewrsquo anymore They can put out material on Instagram Social media interactions have killed the journalistrdquoIndustry insiders believe that the distrust of the media started building after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput when stars were vilified for each commentIf she still has access to stars and opportunities to interview them it is only because of her many years of experience Dubey admits But she makes no bones about the reality of the media landscape today the era of a sitdown chat with celebrities is over ldquoNow you are timed They publicists and managers say lsquo10 minutes onlyrsquo But sometimes it takes 10 minutes just to build a rapport with the interviewee to warm uprdquoAs for gossip gleaned from chance encounters and sources on sets and presented as blind itemsmdashthatrsquos a relic of the past ldquoWhat gossiprdquo Dubey laughs Whether innocuous sizzling or vicious gossip is now considered the jurisdiction of selfstyled insiders with massive follower counts on social media or Bollywoodcentric forums on Reddit that keep tabs on and dissect the minutest detailsTarini Shah digital creatorWhat emerges from comparisons of the past and present is a dissonance between the press and celebritiesmdashone premised on the guarding of reputations personal details being turned into clickbait headlines and a change in the way actors present themselves on social media on their own terms As our favourite stars turn the selfie camera on have we reached a point where itrsquos no longer possible to have a deep thoughtprovoking or fun chat with the actor ofthe hour Is the celebrity interview deadTalk of the days when one could walk onto a set and chat with any artist in their view sounds like urban lore ldquoIrsquod flash my ID and walk inrdquo says Kushalrani Gulab a veteran entertainment writer and editor She recalls a vivid memory from a junket in Wai where director Prakash Jha was shooting Mrityudand starring Madhuri Dixit She had famously banned all interviews after the name of the man she was dating had been revealed ldquoWhile the writers of Stardust and Filmfare fumed I chatted with Dixitrsquos hair stylist In turn the stylist invited me into the vanity and lo and behold I had an interview I broke the ice with the actress by speaking about my nephewmdashI knew that shersquod spoken about how much she loves her ownrdquoThe star kids who made their debut with Zoya Akhtarrsquos The ArchiesmdashSuhana Khan Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nandamdashhavenrsquot given a single press interviewBefore Bollywoodrsquos wholehearted embrace of social media the moviegoer and actor needed the press to reach each other Film magazines and tabloids brought the reader closer to the person they saw on the big screen They were brokers of opinion confessions and secretsmdashthere was no other medium for stars to offer snippets of their personal lives or themselves save for the occasional autograph or meet and greet Itrsquos no surprise then that fans would throng the lanes of Juhu and Bandra waiting for the rare sighting of their heroesmdashas they continue to even todayA wellknown Bollywood agent with a 20year career describes how organic celebrity reputations used to be in the 90s and 2000s ldquoActors had certain labelsmdashPreity Zinta was lsquobubblyrsquo SRK was lsquocharmingrsquo Juhi Chawla was lsquoaffablersquomdashthey were naturally like this There wasnrsquot any machinery working to create these images and ensuring that everything the actor did was in adherence to the image Itrsquos what Mr Khan says He is an employee of the myth of SRK Unfortunately this mythmaking is now a widely adopted idea Every actor is trying to build their myth and sticking to itrdquo the agent saysNayandeep Rakshit hostSocial media is the playground where this mythmaking takes place bolstered by complex strategies and image management The curation concerns everything from the car the celeb will drive to the food they eat and the people they rub shoulders with The agent gives us an example of what such management can look like ldquoImagine that yoursquore a young boy from a small town It is ideal that you seem relatable Irsquoll get the paparazzi to click pictures of you at a local store or riding in an auto rickshaw Yoursquoll be seen as one of the boys from the crowd because you donrsquot drive a BMW yet Irsquoll even get you to post videos about eating streetside chaat Your interviews will be about the rejections yoursquove faced the trials and tribulations how the struggles honed you Soon yoursquoll have recall value and land movies that go on to be hits in Tier 2 and Tier 3 citiesrdquo Wersquore told therersquos an entirely different strategy for star kids centred on making them seem approachable and aware of their privilegeMurtuza Rampurwala who handles social media for bigwigs like Rohit Shetty Sanjay Dutt and Shefali Shah as well as the digital side of movie campaigns candidly expresses why the vibe of celebrity accounts is positive ldquoSocial media by design is a place where everyone wants to show the best versions of themselvesmdashthey have to be pristine We delete negative comments we manage any smallscale trollingrdquo he saysAs actors become more comfortable with speaking about their personal lives and preferences online Gulab points out that entire profiles of stars can now be fashioned based on their social media posts rendering the interview obsolete If actors now come to the press it is to extend the narrative surrounding them providing manicured details that will not deflect from the impression they want to project All you as a journalist are expected to do is type ldquoThere was a time when Irsquod walked onto a set where Naseeruddin Shah was present I asked Shah one question and he launched into a rant about the Hindi film industry At the time he needed a journalistrsquos platform Now no one doesrdquo says GulabThe senior Bollywood agent highlights that many of the star kids launched a month agomdashSuhana Khan Agastya Nanda and Khushi Kapoormdashhavenrsquot even given their debut press interviews yet ldquoThe pressrsquo approval is no longer a mandate from the stars eitherrdquo she says plainlyThe void left behind by journalists has been swiftly filled by a more appealing face the influencer Production houses and OTT platforms often rope in influencers in the verticals of comedy pop culture and beauty to interview the casts of upcoming projects Digital creator Tarini Shah 508k followers who has worked with celebrities says that as influencers they firstly understand the ldquoother siderdquo ldquoThe point is to create a safer space for the celebrity We are not here to get tabloid newsmdashwe are here to talk about your movies and work in the most honest way Every creator has their own nichemdashfor me itrsquos my relatability I ask questionsthat I think Gen Z will want to ask about For me itrsquos about giving a safe place where they can be raw and realrdquoOne of the many things the Bollywood fan looks forward to is a celebrsquos soft or hard launch of their beau Teased posed for cheekily confirming rumoursmdashlaunches of all kinds are lapped up At the same time many journalists are held back from asking questions about starsrsquo romantic relationships ldquoWhen they tell me not to ask questions about romantic relationships I just ask why Itrsquos so obvious itrsquos all over social mediamdashlet me ask the question and the star can choose to say lsquoNo commentrsquo if they want tordquo says a senior film journalist who works at a mainstream newspaperTill a few years ago the star had a manager that handled their workmdashtheir movies and everything to do with them and the production houses set up the interviews as Yashraj still does As avenues expanded and social media entered the fray the work of a celebrity grew from what they did onscreen to sponsored posts brand collaborations and much more It was then that the PR machinery became imperativemdashto spread the wordA PR professional who works at an agency handling Bollywoodrsquos biggest stars says that they are concerned about being misquoted by the press about their words being taken out of contextAnother publicist who has been running a boutique PR firm for a decade says that actors donrsquot wish to comment on any issues anymore ldquoThe actor I manage may choose to take a hard stand on a trending topic But the next morning when hell breaks loose Irsquoll have to figure out remedies and make elaborate damage control plansrdquo the publicist saysThe editor of a wellknown website tells us that OTT platforms too are using the power dynamic of access to their benefit ldquoDuring the press interactions for the AP Dhillon documentary more than eight journalists found that the footage of their interviews was reduced to half And I could pin the blame on one platform but at some point or other every OTT platform has done this to me Their reasons for censoring are that our questions werenrsquot relevant or that the talent wasnrsquot comfortable with the answers they gaverdquoFormer print journalist the host of a popular chat show and influencer Nayandeep Rakshit says that the dissonance between the press and celebrities is the result of many factorsmdashand holds all stakeholders responsible ldquoJournalists have asked very catty questions assuming they are fun The stars have even answered these questions What follows is social media trolling that is hard to fathom I asked Ranbir Kapoor a question about what he loves hates and tolerates about his wife Alia Bhatt He answered the question and the next thing we know there were armies of social media users slandering the actor for being an inconsiderate husband What followed was toxic and that wasnrsquot my intention and so I felt horribly guiltyrdquoRakshit traces the changed environment of present times to the moment that shook the Hindi film industrymdashSushant Singh Rajputrsquos demise ldquoMainstream news channels were up in arms to portray Bollywood as a world where actors have no morality I loved how Karan Johar addressed it in his chat show last season That said it has resulted in actors being more measured more guarded Anything and everything they say will be held against themrdquo Rakshit says of the mistrust that celebrities now harbourDubey who is speaking to us from a press conference which she rarely attends these days adds ldquoMaybe itrsquos a phase I have been told it is It will all calm down But will it ever go back to how it used to be I donrsquot think sordquo