Bharti Dubey | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; June 21, 2010)

Mumbai: Days before Hrithik Roshan’s much-hyped film Kites hit screens, it was declared a flop on social networking sites. “Sabse mehngi patang kat gayi’’ and “zindagi do pal ki, kati patang ke peechhe kyon bhaage?’’ were some of the posts that sealed its fate. The film bombed, and Hrithik later tweeted about “sabotage’’ and hinted that some people were deliberately running down his film.

With Twitter’s popularity increasing, the industry made full use of it during the release of Mani Rathnam’s Raavan. Twenty-four hours before the first show, there were nasty tweets: ‘Now for the next five years, Mani saar will not direct a film’, and ‘Why is Sita made to be this wimp who goes to Raavan as soon as Ram dumps her?’

A few years ago, Akshay Kumar had blamed his rivals for nixing his career via SMS after his two films, 8×10 Tasveer and Chandni Chowk To China, flopped. Amitabh Bachchan, too, had alleged that his world tour was being deliberately disrupted. “I am shocked and covered in disbelief at being privy personally to a design by certain sections of the media and the fraternity to bring down this show,’’ he wrote on his blog. Ajay Devgn, too, felt the same about some of his films.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra, known for sending out SMSes on the eve of every film release, says he is often accused of sabotaging a film. “My sms reviews upset producers, but an SMS cannot make a film a hit More >