Do film critics take money for giving good reviews? Do film reviews really impact a film's business? Are producers losing money by getting trapped in the cycle of press shows? Is the press truly helping a film’s success, or is it working towards its failure?
Let us examine the issue with a pragmatic approach, analyzing both sides.
We need to go back a few decades to address this issue. Initially, about three decades ago, there were only film magazines that wrote about films and their business. It would take at least three days to publish a review of any newly released film, so there was little to no impact of reviews on film business back then. If audiences patronized a film, it would succeed; otherwise, it would flop.
Eventually, from 1998 to 2005, websites began to emerge, and online reviews slowly gained traction. Initially, these reviews impacted the overseas business of Indian films, which was just starting to grow. However, post-2005, they gained greater traction with domestic viewers as well. The number of websites was limited, and the critics representing each site were well-known within the film industry.
Now, in the 2020s, the scenario has changed. There are countless critics everywhere. Anyone with a social media account can act as a critic. Moreover, social influencers among them are effectively spreading their reviews to the masses. Public talk videos are even being shared right after morning shows in theaters, leading to a complete lack of control.
Amidst this, when a press show is screened, the question arises; whom should they invite? This is a significant dilemma. Generally, producers rely on Public Relations Officers (PROs) to invite critics and media personnel. If they truly wish to invite everyone, there are hundreds of critics globally, making it practically impossible to include them all. If they invite a few and ignore others, the omitted critics may feel insulted and retaliate by attacking the film. Thus, these days, press shows act as counter productive for filmmakers.
However, this doesn't apply to small films with new faces. If they need attention, they must invite the press and show the film; otherwise, critics may not invest their time and money to watch a small film and provide reviews.
In such cases, there is no guarantee that even if a special press show is screened, the critics will give positive reviews. There are countless examples where critics gave negative reviews after enjoying a free ticket and popcorn at the producers' expense. Ultimately, producers realize that at least their film is recognized, even with negative reviews; otherwise, it would go unnoticed.
This raises the question of whether critics take money to provide positive reviews. If that were the case, every producer would set aside a budget for advertising and pay critics accordingly. In that scenario, there wouldn’t be any negative reviews at all. But that never happened, concluding that critics dont fall for money to give positive reviews.
Practically speaking, in case money were given to critics and the critics accept, producers would incur double the budget of the film, considering the multitude of critics everywhere. Even then, there is no guarantee that the films would receive positive reviews.
Critics often gain attention by writing negative reviews; otherwise, they become irrelevant. Therefore, they tend to show their true colors to maintain their relevance and generally don't go liberal with the films they review.
Unless a film receives unanimous blockbuster talk, critics do not tend to align their opinions with what pleases the makers. This is quite rare.
There is an open secret that certain social media influencers are paid between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 to promote a film positively with favorable comments, but only the producers know how much this actually helps their films.
Moreover, audiences don’t usually care about reviews when they genuinely want to watch a film.
"There are films with the worst reviews that achieve great collections, and films with great reviews that perform poorly. So reviews don’t really impact the audience or word of mouth," said a film director.
In continuation, a producer stated, "The impact of reviews may not be as direct on the audience as expected, but they certainly affect the satellite and OTT rights business if these rights are not closed before the release. Negotiations happen based on ratings and reviews, so we are primarily concerned about reviews for that reason."
To conclude, managing the press and critics regarding the release of a film has become a significant headache and burden for filmmakers these days. Having said that, they cannot take it lightly, as they fear being completely ignored.
Usha Chowdhary
