Aditi Rao Hydari Says Excessive Film Marketing Cannot Rescue a Badly Made Movie

Mumbai, November 7: Actress Aditi Rao Hydari has weighed in on the growing trend of aggressive film marketing and promotional campaigns in the entertainment industry, saying that no amount of publicity can save a poorly made film. According to her, filmmakers must first focus on creating compelling stories and giving their projects the artistic attention they deserve before turning to marketing.

Aditi, who is awaiting the release of her upcoming film Parivarik ManuRanjan, shared her views during a conversation with IANS alongside her co-star Pankaj Tripathi at a five-star property in Mumbai’s Goregaon East, where the duo was promoting the film.

Drawing a comparison between filmmaking and cooking, the actress said that presentation and garnishing cannot compensate for a recipe that has been prepared without the right ingredients, effort and attention.

“I have not learnt filmmaking so, pardon me but, I feel that like how we make food, if we are not putting the right ingredients, and not giving that recipe be it khichdi or biryani the desired time and attention then it won’t turn out good. You will reject it after a few bites irrespective of its presentation. The work we do, what we make is an art form. We are part of an artistic industry. So we should put artistry in our work while making a film,” she told IANS.

The actress further emphasised the importance of having conviction in a film’s story, its casting and the creative decisions behind its making. She expressed a desire to see filmmakers follow their artistic instincts rather than being overly influenced by opinions about what might or might not work commercially.

“We love our film, we must love our story, we must love our actors, we must know why we have our actors there, how we are showing them. I feel like there were so many visionaries before us who did this. And no matter whoever said that, ‘This won’t work, this will work’, they would go by their conviction. I wish that we would still make films like that. I really, really pray and wish for it because I love this field. It’s a very, very beautiful field. And with marketing, if we don’t put love in it, we can’t fix it,” she said.

Aditi maintained that filmmaking and marketing must go hand in hand, but the creative process should always come first. She believes that audiences ultimately connect with the quality of the content, and a genuinely good story can continue to find viewers even if it does not receive the desired response upon its initial release.

“First, we have to make it really well then we have to sell it. You taste it, you love it, you come back for more. A good story will eventually find its audience. Even if a good story doesn’t work at the time of release, it will have a long shelf life,” she added.

Meanwhile, Parivarik ManuRanjan, featuring Aditi Rao Hydari and Pankaj Tripathi, is scheduled to premiere on SonyLIV on November 13, 2026.