Social Media Outrage has the Power to Impact a Film, Now More Than Ever

“Bollywood disappoints in 2020.”

So went the sentiments of Twitter users upon the release of ‘Beyonce Sharma Jaayegi’, a song from Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday’s upcoming film Khaali Peeli. The social media outrage translated into raining dislikes on the song, and within a week, the video was downvoted more than a million times. Given the severe criticism, ‘Beyonce Sharma Jaayegi’ was altered to ‘Beyonse Sharma Jaayegi’. When the backlash didn’t cease, it was again changed to ‘Duniya Sharma Jaayegi’.

Affirming the impact of social media on content creation and consumption, this influence of online outrage changing the development of a movie is a relatively new phenomenon. In recent times, fans of movies and TV shows probably have more influence than any other point in the past, as now more consumers are capable of voicing their judgment.

Before this, the hype surrounding a dialogue in Ananya Panday’s previous film Pati Patni Aur Woh met with a similar fate. When the trailer of the film was released, many were upset over Kartik Aaryan’s dialogue where he made an apparent joke on marital rape. The outrage was so widespread that the actors and filmmakers had to issue an apology and the dialogue was changed. Likewise, modification of the title of Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao’s ‘Mental Hai Kya’ to ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ was also done.