Award-winning filmmaker Sai Rajesh spoke with surprising honesty and clarity during a recent stage interaction, and many within the industry felt that his words reflected the harsh reality currently surrounding film promotions.
Sai Rajesh openly stated that a large part of today’s promotional culture has turned artificial.
From buying YouTube views for trailers and songs to generating fake positive comments and engagement on social media, the filmmaker pointed out how the industry is increasingly relying on manipulated numbers rather than genuine audience response.
According to him, this trend has made it extremely difficult for filmmakers to truly understand what audiences actually like anymore.
When every trailer appears to have a blockbuster-level response online, there is no clear way to judge real public interest or decide what kind of stories should be made next.
What made his comments even more striking was his honest observation about his own film Baby.
Sai Rajesh boldly admitted that if Baby had been released in the current environment, it might not have achieved even half the success it did two years ago.
That statement itself reveals how drastically audience behaviour, promotional culture and industry dynamics have changed within a very short span of time.
A major reason behind this shift, according to industry observers, is the increasing influence of OTT platforms over the theatrical business.
Over the last two to three years, filmmakers have begun depending heavily on OTT deals for financial recovery and profitability.
Because of this, many producers now desperately chase either huge box-office collections or overwhelmingly positive reviews and critical acclaim to secure favourable OTT deals.
Even if collections are average, strong ratings and positive online talk can still help a film survive in the digital market.
This pressure has reportedly pushed filmmakers towards paid reviews, manipulated online discussions and artificial promotional strategies aimed purely at pleasing OTT platforms rather than audiences.
Ironically, in the process of trying to satisfy OTT expectations, the industry appears to be damaging its own credibility. Genuine audience feedback is getting buried under sponsored trends, inflated metrics and forced positivity campaigns.
What Sai Rajesh highlighted was not merely a complaint about promotions, but a warning about a larger identity crisis within the film industry itself.
