Karan Johar sparked the debate by pointing out Bollywood’s increasing dependence on PR. He criticized the heavy use of paid promotions, calling it a “marketing tactic”, and said that artists should focus more on their work than on a curated image. “Everything is available at a price,” he added, making it difficult to judge what’s truly relevant and what’s praiseworthy — sometimes even paying for exposure.
Karan Johar sparked the conversation by pointing out the film industry’s increasing reliance on PR tactics. Recently, he criticized the heavy use of paid promotions while responding to a question that mentioned actors like Janhvi Kapoor and Shanaya Kapoor. He warned against what he called the “marketing method” and stressed that artists should focus on their work rather than the artificial public image.
Karan Johar says Bollywood should stop doing PR
Speaking to The Week, the director said: “I think Bollywood should stop doing PR. It would be much better. They should let their achievements speak for themselves because unfortunately, all PR now is paid. If you want to say ‘You look great’, you just have to pay. If you want to say you are the best actor on the planet, you have to pay. So I think we are in overdrive when it comes to PR. So whether they are doing marketing methods or not is secondary.”
They should stop marketing themselves and let their work speak for themselves. I don’t mean the people you’re talking about, I mean everyone in general. Because I think PR is in overdrive mode. There is a certain way to do this. Advertising and Marketing – These are very important business categories and should be approached in this specific way.Johar also said, “Now everything is available at some price, and that’s something that can be very annoying because then you can’t really gauge what’s online and what’s out now. Do people like it or are they paying to like it? I don’t know, I can’t tell half the time. It confuses me because even I sometimes pay for it.”
Karan Johar talks about the update of the ninth season of “Koffee With Karan”
On the professional front, Karan Johar also gave an update on his popular talk show ‘Koffee With Karan’. The ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ director revealed that season 9 is likely to premiere on Diwali 2026.