Kannada cinema has a new headache: Paid reviews

Moviegoers buy tickets at a cinema in Bengaluru. In the long run, paid reviews will affect the reputation of the artist or filmmaker when the film ultimately fails to connect with the audience. | Photo credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

On social media, the pattern is often predictable when a prominent Kannada film hits the screens: X (formerly Twitter) is flooded with posts describing how good the film is. The catchphrases range from ‘Kannada cinema goes to the next level’ to ‘epic climax’. Industry insiders identify these as indicators of a worrying “paid review” trend.

Influencer culture is felt in the film industry and campaigns are carefully planned. The film team decides what goes out, down to every word, in a WhatsApp group. The public relations (PR) team then identifies X group of users with a decent following and pays them to share tweets favoring the film, industry insiders say. The same goes for Instagram promotions, where people identifying themselves as “movie reviewers” and “experts” provide reviews for a price.

A PR official, on condition of anonymity, told The Hindu that paid reviews and posts are considered another marketing technique. “It’s like a new restaurant or food. The critic may not prefer it, but a part of the audience will be interested in trying them. The constant tweets, posts and videos are meant to reach those people to go see the movie.”

This approach to marketing is increasingly called for by cinephiles who crave objective reviews. “You see 10-20 posts with similar wording. It’s easy to guess that the reviews are not genuine,” says SS Ravikumar, an upcoming filmmaker active on social media.

But these “controlled reviews” don’t always work, says Pavithra Gowda, co-founder of PR agency Pink Tickets. “A film can only sustain and win at the box office if its content resonates with the audience.” In the long run, paid reviews will affect the reputation of the artist or filmmaker when the film ultimately fails to connect with the audience.

Taking a different promotional route, Raj B Shetty’s Su From So, one of the biggest hits of 2025, had a paid release in four to five cities in Karnataka before hitting the screens worldwide. The idea, Raj explained, was to skip the routine route of press conferences, interviews and trailer launch events and take the film directly to the people.

The formula worked as organic word of mouth spread like wildfire. However, several films that followed the Su From So model tried to tamper with it. They created a bunch of videos showing the enthusiastic reactions at premiere shows, with both paid and unpaid influencers in the crowd. It was clear that the film crews were desperate to predict that the film had impressed the fans. “The answer can be confusing, leaving the audience to lose the ability to differentiate between paid promotion, personal opinion and an honest review,” admits Ravikumar.

S. Shivakumar, a veteran film critic and writer, says paid reviews were not uncommon even in the pre-social media era, though now they have changed form and reach. “Of course, some accepted and some didn’t,” he says.

PR work is not just about blindly promoting a film, says Harish Arasu, founder of PR company Arasu Creations. “There will be many small films with great content. Producers will not have the budget to market the films,” he says, stressing the need to find new ways to reach a wide audience. Negative campaigns also hurt the prospects of films, he adds.

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Kairam Vaashi, a film critic, agrees that paid negative campaigns are equally dangerous. “It will strangle the film before it gets a chance to blossom in the first week,” he says.

With the Kannada audience showing great reluctance to come to theaters except on rare occasions, the film industry is exploring all possible ways to capture their attention. As paid reviews continue to dominate, the industry will have to look at other creative ways to attract people to movies, especially as word of mouth is slowly becoming the deciding factor in a movie’s fate.

Published – 03 Oct 2026 23:03 IST