You can put it to him and he will tell you: there are paid PR and bots at work in the smears against Alia over Alpha. ‘Why is she getting trolled? Poor thing,’ he said, exasperated by the whole charade. In his view, when you buy into the negativity, you’re distorting what the audience is meant to see.
Why the outrage around Alia is snowballing
It started with some of her time in Cannes, where you had your share of snark about her on the red carpet. Then the Alpha teaser came out and it was like throwing a log on a fire – the mockery has been non-stop since.
People in the know say it’s a case of targeted hate for a price. One actor may have put a stop to a question or two on the matter, but Vikram Bhatt was having none of it and put his point across.
Vikram Bhatt’s stand: critique films, not people
He doesn’t see why the teaser for Alpha is being picked apart so much. The footage is what it is. If you don’t want to see it, fine, don’t. There is no need to make it personal.
What gets to him is the whole culture of piling on. Curiosity has given way to cynicism, and he thinks that’s being put in place, not something that just happens.
Bots, budgets and bogus outrage
He’s seen it with his own work. When the Haunted 3D: Echoes Of The Past trailer was up, there was an odd amount of vitriol. Go to the Anand Pandit Motion Pictures YouTube page and the comments were anything but friendly; check Saregama’s channels and you won’t find the same thing.
His team figured it was a paid push from bots, not from anyone with a genuine opinion. These days they make sure to tell the difference before they get worked up over what they read.
This is what he has for you to keep in mind:
– Some of those bad comments are coming from a machine
– You can have a thousand of them for a lakh of rupees
– We don’t know who is footing the bill, but you have your enemies
The cost of smear campaigns, and the collateral damage
There is a story he’s heard of one actress paying to have another trolled. He won’t vouch for it, but he will say this: you can drive an IMDb rating down with comments that have no basis in reality. That is a fact.
It’s a matter of reputation. We are in a time where the narrative is more important than the details. He isn’t too fussed about his regulars, but for a film that has to live or die by word of mouth, it is a worry.
Take Haunted 3D: Echoes Of The Past, for instance. It’s shaping up to be a bit of a hit. But even a good film can be put in a position if the wrong kind of wave comes in at the wrong moment.
Alpha’s momentum and the immediate road ahead
Shiv Rawail is behind the camera on Alpha, with Yash Raj Films in support. It’s the first of its kind in the YRF Spy Universe with a woman at the helm, and it’s Alia Bhatt’s entry into a proper action franchise.
So to the naysayers, Bhatt says: let the film be the judge. If it’s not for you, then don’t go. But don’t confuse a difference of opinion with a character assassination.
What to watch for next
With all the talk around Alpha, we’ll see if the public can tell the difference between a real voice and a bot. Let the paid PR do its thing and the backlash wins. Or you can wait until the film is out and let it be what it is.
