Just a day before the release of Dhurandhar, Bollywood actress Yami Gautam has taken a strong stand against what she describes as a growing “plague” in the film industry. In a detailed statement, she criticised the alleged trend of certain groups demanding money in the name of “marketing” to either hype a film or avoid generating negative chatter around it.
Yami, who is married to Dhurandhar director Aditya Dhar, said this pattern has now become a disguised form of extortion, with some people “continuously writing negative things even before the film is released, until you pay them.” She warned that calling such behaviour the new normal is dangerous, adding that this culture will eventually “bite everyone.”
There is something iv been wanting to express since really long, I feel today is that day & I must .
This so called trend of giving money, in the disguise of marketing a film, to ensure good ‘hype’ for a film is created or else ‘they’ will continuously write negative things…— Yami Gautam Dhar (@yamigautam) December 4, 2025
She emphasised that the problem has intensified over the last five years and urged producers, directors and actors to unite to stop this “monster of a trend” from damaging the future of Indian cinema. Yami also pointed out that such practices do not exist in the South film industries because they “stand united on many fronts.”
Expressing her concern as both a member of the fraternity and the wife of the filmmaker, she said Aditya Dhar and his team have poured immense honesty, hard work and vision into Dhurandhar — a film that she believes India will be proud of. Her appeal concluded with a request to safeguard the creative environment of the industry and allow audiences to decide a film’s fate without manipulation.
Dhurandhar, marking Ranveer Singh’s return to the big screen after more than two years, releases nationwide this Friday.
