Karan Johar says ‘Bollywood should stop doing PR’ and let work speak for itself

Bollywood director Karan Johar has publicly criticised the Hindi film industry’s heavy reliance on paid publicity, saying stars should let their work speak for itself rather than flood social media and media platforms with curated campaigns.

Karan Johar on Bollywood's PR cuture

Karan Johar made the remarks in a recent interview with The Week, where he was asked about new marketing styles used by actors such as Janhvi Kapoor and Shanaya Kapoor during the promotion of their films Param Sundari and Tu Yaa Main. He used the moment to launch a broader critique of how Bollywood now handles publicity, questioning whether viewer reactions are genuine or simply paid for.

During the conversation, Johar said, “I think Bollywood should stop doing PR. It will be much better and they should let their achievement speak for itself. Unfortunately all of the PRs are paid, so if you want to say you're looking gorgeous, you just have to pay. If you want to say that you are the best actor on planet Earth, you have to pay. So I think we are on overdrive mode when it comes to PR.”

The filmmaker stressed that he was not singling out any one actor or set of actors, but talking about the industry as a whole.

He added, “So whether they are doing method marketing or not is secondary - they should stop marketing themselves and let their work speak for themselves. I don't mean the people you are talking about, I mean everyone in general. Because I think PR is overdrive mode now. There is a certain way of doing it.”

He continued, “Publicity, marketing, these are important work categories and they should be treated that specific way but now everything is available at a price and that could be deeply unsettling because then you really can't gauge what's connecting and what's not.”

“Now you are looking at everything and you're like are people really liking it or they've been paid to like it. I don't know. I can't tell half the time. Many times it has confused me because sometimes I am even paying for it”, he admitted, referring to the fact that filmmakers and studios also hire PR teams and buy media coverage to generate visibility for their projects.

Johar did not outline a specific new policy for how studios should handle marketing, but he made it clear he believes artists and filmmakers should trust their work more and rely less on non‑stop self‑promotion. For now, his remarks have added a fresh reference point to an ongoing conversation about ethics, transparency, and authenticity in Bollywood’s approach to publicity.