Taapsee Pannu Slams Bollywood PR Game: 'You're Paying To Push Someone Else Down'

Bollywood’s PR machinery is getting louder, sharper and far more aggressive and Taapsee Pannu isn’t pretending not to notice. In a candid conversation, the actor spoke about how publicity strategies in the Hindi

film industry have changed dramatically, calling out a culture where promotion is no longer just about lifting yourself up, but also about pulling others down.

Speaking to Times Now News, Taapsee reflected on how her own pace of work has shifted in the past couple of years, a decision she said was deliberate. As she explained, taking a step back gave her clarity on how the industry’s publicity ecosystem now functions. “I was too busy doing my own things. But last 1.5-2 years I have slowed down things and it has also been a conscious effort. I have realised that this PR game has gone to some other level. You are paying either to, I mean push yourself. Which was one version of doing PR. You are also paying to push someone else down,” she said.

The actor questioned the mindset driving this shift, wondering when success became so closely tied to someone else’s downfall. “Since when did your success depend upon someone else’s failure? People have started creating a new facade of their personalities because they need relevance,” Taapsee added.

She also pointed out what she sees as a growing mismatch between the public personas being created and the actual work being delivered on screen. “I am not okay with just me being there in a hit film, I also need to have a very strong voice even if it is not yours. But you have to create a voice. And that voice that you are trying to create beyond films is not matching with the work you are doing. So that discrepancy. You are saying beyond your films but your work is saying something else,” she said.

Taapsee further noted that she would rather spend her money on herself and her close circle than invest in publicity tactics like “planting articles.”

On the work front, Taapsee made her acting debut with the Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam in 2010 and entered Hindi cinema with Chashme Baddoor in 2012. Over the years, she has featured in films such as Baby, Naam Shabana, Manmarziyaan, Mulk, Badla, Thappad, Rashmi Rocket, Haseen Dillruba, Dobaaraa and Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba.

She was last seen in Mudassar Aziz’s Khel Khel Mein, which also starred Akshay Kumar, Vaani Kapoor, Ammy Virk, Aditya Seal, Pragya Jaiswal and Fardeen Khan. Taapsee will next be seen in Gandhari, a revenge drama directed by Devashish Makhija and backed by Kanika Dhillon’s Katha Pictures. The film is set to premiere on Netflix.