Ranbir Kapoor needs a better PR team. Period. Every time he emerges from his relatively private life to give an interview, social media goes berserk. And with good reason, too.
In one of his recent interviews, Kapoor mentioned that his wife, actor Alia Bhatt, had to make a lot of changes after they got married. “She (Bhatt) changed more for me than I have changed for her. I am acknowledging it but I should do something about it, I should change a bit,” said Kapoor.
Of course, everyone had a field day, calling him out on social media. It is as if both Kapoor and his PR team, if he has one, have a death wish.
Kapoor does not really mince his words, but it’s not a compliment. He is already the proverbial ‘red’ flag, and it’s getting worse by the minute. Bhatt’s statements aren’t helping. In an Instagram tutorial, she showed how she applies lipstick and tries to keep it faded and minimal because her husband ‘doesn’t like it’.
Her fans, especially the women, were aghast. “Blink twice if you need help,” one concerned person commented under the Vogue India Instagram post.
Ranbir the husband, if not Ranbir the actor, definitely needs to learn to frame better answers, or get a PR team that does it for him.
Also read: This is the new Bollywood of men with daddy issues. Animal has only named the trend
Market the red flags
Public personalities—politicians, actors, musicians, writers—have masks. As fans, and followers, we understand and even accept it.
Even the most ‘real’ looks or interviews are carefully scripted. It’s about brand building and packing an ideal or some version of their personality. Why does Kapoor not invest in it?
Sure, what he’s doing is nothing new. More often than not, married Indian men have something unsavoury to say about their wives or even their marriages. Kapoor, of course, has become their flag bearer–the reddest of red flags.
It’s not even a secret. Remember that now-infamous episode in Koffee with Karan, back in 2010, where Sonam Kapoor sympathised with Deepika Padukone over her relationship with Ranbir. She said she wasn’t sure if Ranbir would make a good boyfriend.
It’s been 14 years—more than enough time for the actor’s PR machinery to figure out how to market his red flags. Or at least tone them down to a more whimsical rose.
And despite his measured and seemingly ‘mature’ responses emphasising that he is not particularly affected, his image as the embodiment of toxic masculinity has almost become carved in stone. Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal (2023) almost seemed like an over-the-top extension of that persona.
Also read: Ranveer Singh went from ‘wife guy’ to red flag overnight. He only has himself to blame
All publicity…
Kapoor does not have a social media account, so, he is largely inaccessible. Fans are not privy to his foibles on a daily basis, nor can they get glimpses of his life. They may be scripted, but little drops of information on Instagram really work to revamp or revive one’s image. He should take notes from Zeenat Aman.
It is not as if other actors are the best of human beings when it comes to love or relationships. But their PR team are on an overdrive, pushing a certain image of them relentlessly. All we know of Arjun Kapoor is his ‘chivalry’, because that is what’s highlighted. Nerve mind the cheating allegations.
Alia Bhatt’s husband may not be the worst of the lot, but it definitely comes across that way. At this point, everyone is so deeply suspicious, that even if he tries, very feebly, to sound better, no one cares. The change has to be a total cleanse from the inside, with better answers on the outside.
Not that well-planned strategies don’t backfire. Once again, the Koffee With Karan episode featuring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone is a case in point. Seen as an ‘ideal’ power couple, Padukone’s answers about casual dating led to the internet having a collective meltdown.
Perhaps, Ranbir Kapoor has a great PR team and they’ve decided that all publicity is good publicity.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)