Dear Bollywood, just a defamation case won't work; time to boycott these toxic news channels completely; HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS!
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Monday October 13, started on a bumpy note for most Mumbaikars as the city suffered a power outage like never before. As electricity was slowly restored in all parts of Mumbai, there came another jolt that took the whole country by surprise. It came to light that 34 Bollywood producers and 3 film associations have come together and have moved the Delhi High Court against two news channels – Times Now and Republic – for spreading hate and toxicity against the film industry.
This move was unexpected as the hate campaign against Bollywood has been going on since the untimely demise of Sushant Singh Rajput on June 14. According to the reports, the viewership of news channels had nosedived in May. There was nothing new for news channels to showcase apart from the Coronavirus crisis and therefore viewers were bored. The demise of Sushant and the anger amongst people was seen as a godsend by these channels. While all channels milked it in their own way, Times Now and Republic probably went quite far in making baseless allegations and tried to brainwash people into believing that Bollywood remained the most evil place on earth. On top of it, most of the celebrities chose to keep mum. A lot of experts and analysts requested them to speak up and voice their protest. But they didn’t. The belief was that these celebs thought it was just a passing phase. But it wasn’t.
As a result, the #BollywoodStrikesBack campaign is a great development and the need of the hour. And yet, one can’t help but ask – is this enough or is it a case of too little, too late? Will a defamation-sort of a case pay dividends? Unfortunately, there are not many examples where such cases have led to any sort of logical conclusion or a conviction. Even if these channels are asked to fall in line, there’s no guarantee they will give up on their vicious and acidic agenda. They might still continue tarnishing Bollywood, albeit in a milder way. On top of that, they can knock at the doors of the Supreme Court and this way, the case can get taarikh per taarikh.
Hence, the need is to take a step which is immediate and which can have a deeper and prolonged impact. Times Now is run by the Times group which also owns The Times of India, Bombay Times, Radio Mirchi etc. The Bollywood celebs pay crores of rupees so that the Times Group can publish their articles and photographs in supplements like Bombay Times. According to an estimate by industry insiders, this way, Bollywood [individual celebrities and production houses] pays crores to the Times Group every year. According to a grapevine, a top superstar annually pays around Rs. 10 crores while another upcoming actor who has seen success recently shells out Rs. 5 crore to the group for their respective promotions. One female debutant had doled out a huge Rs. 1 crore when she was launched a couple of years ago. And the reputation of these film stars was damaged in the last few months by the same group whom they paid so generously.
Therefore, it’ll seem awkward if Bollywood sues Times Now on one hand and on the other hand, it continues to patronise and pay them. The celebs ideally should pull out of these medianet deals completely. Also, they should stop giving interviews to their sister publications or news channels. Bollywood should also look for alternative touchpoints which can be used for promotions. This would send out a message that Bollywood can survive without these channels but the vice versa is not going to be possible.
And Bollywood need not look far off for inspiration. The day these producers filed the case, another ‘breaking news’ that came in was that Bajaj and Parle, two of the biggest companies in India, have decided not to advertise on news channels that ‘broadcast toxic content’. These companies have already shown the way by taking the right step and Bollywood can follow suit.
Our stars love awards and Filmfare Awards is considered the ‘Oscars’ of Bollywood. The stars should have the guts to boycott these awards completely as well. These award ceremonies get eyeballs thanks to the presence of the stars and in their absence, the award shows will fail to get viewership and sponsorship. Forget viewership, it might not even take place if the actors won’t walk the red carpet! Such ‘hit-them-where-it-hurts’ steps can bring these networks to its senses more than the court cases!
Still, this is a great beginning. It seems that the industry finally had its ‘aata majhi satakli’ moment! Just as it happens in our films when the hero seems down and out and that’s when he hits back and finishes the villain, similarly our Bollywood personalities have done the same! What’s also pleasantly surprising is how so many production houses and entities came together for a common cause. This has rarely happened in our industry.
Here’s hoping that Bollywood gets more and more people/banners in this movement and also decides to stop all association with these toxic channels until they promise to behave responsibly in future. For far too long, our stars and producers have been threatened and scared with boycott campaigns on social media. Here’s the time to turn the tables and show that even the Bollywood fraternity can play the boycott game very well and bring irresponsible people and entities to its knees!
All that Bollywood needs now is to walk the talk…
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