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He’s the driving force behind Bollywood news, and he knows howto manipulate people’s perceptions of Bollywood celebrities like noone else. He is also this year’s recipient of the ‘Crossover Publicistof the Year’ award by the Suvidha Gaurav Achiever Awards Foundation in Mumbai.He handles the PR for some of Bollywood’s top celebrities including Hrithik Roshan,Shilpa Shetty, Vivek Oberoi and Randeep Hooda. No, I’m not playing a Bollywoodtrivia game with you—I’m simply describing Bollywood’s leading PR practitioner, DaleBhagwagar, whose interview for PlanetBollywood.com follows below. Read awayand re-examine the world of Bollywood through a PR lens!

I’ll start off by asking you a basic PR question — what is your definition of PR?And, how do you apply such a broad definition of PR to Bollywood?

A PR is a media manipulator par excellence. The better the manipulator, the better the PR. We are living in times when perception is reality. PRs are the perceptionbuilders. They are the ones who make the world believe a lot of things the way theyformulate and strategize. Their minds influence the minds of millions. That makesPRs no less than the new kings of this perception-driven world. All bow! (smiles) 

Since there is a fine line between manipulation and being unethical, how doyou make sure you don't cross it? 

Simple. Very simple. I come from a journalistic background, a place where ethicshave ruled over the decades. While I manipulate, I also let my conscience do thetalking. It keeps me far away from attempting the unethical.

There are a lot of misconceptions that PR is equivalent to publicity. Why doyou think people fail to understand that PR is a multifaceted field thatencompasses much more than just publicity? 

Because most people think simple, while we PRs scheme (laughs as if the laughwere a roar ).

PR is still in its early stages in India, overall. How advanced do you thinkBollywood PR has become, and what changes/developments do you still feelneed to take place? 

Bollywood PR has matured a lot. It’s just that most of the learned lot of PRs haveentered the segment just about five years ago. It will take a little more time before

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clout sets it. But I can already sense boom time.

How have you seen PR evolve and develop in Bollywood? 

Earlier, we had PRs working with formulas. There was a particular way of doingcertain things. There were set norms and rules. Today, a PR like me believes inbreaking all the rules and experimenting with the norms. The world is changingrapidly and so is the world of the publicist. Ten years ago, we used to have just a

couple of publications to cater to. Now we have hundreds of them, plus whole lot of television channels and FM radio stations and a new Web site springing up almostevery week. It’s chaos. Organized chaos! And the ones, who’ll survive this mediamadness and news and gossip frenzy, are the ones who would get to mould and rulethe future – the minds of millions. It’s a PR PR PR world, and all are welcome.

These days the emphasis is not just on PR, but on Integrated MarketingCommunications — a combination of PR, Advertising and Marketing. Howeffective are Bollywood PR firms and practitioners in embracing this concept? 

Not very. Though most advertising firms have started their PR divisions, the PR firmshave been specializing only on Press Relations. I agree that Public Relations as afield encompasses a lot, but most Bollywood publicists have not tapped the entirespectrum. Even I have not ventured into integrated marketing yet.

There are very few PR firms in India which handle Bollywood PR — Buzz (abranch of Perfect Relations), Percept, Dwapar Promotions and your agency

Dale Bhagwagar Media Group are some of the leaders in the field. Yet,Bollywood is a really big industry. Why do you think there are few firms at thetop, and why do you think most celebrities still rely mainly on one person or asecretary as opposed to an entire firm to handle their PR? 

In any profession, only the best manage to stay at the top. When more great peopleand minds enter the profession, they will create their space. At the same time, manycelebrities and makers do rely on people, rather than big companies to handle them.Personal approach and vibe works best in Bollywood. Since representatives changefrom time to time in companies, it is often difficult for them to continue the rapport theoutgoing person shared with a particular celebrity or a maker. That is why the solopublicist, the proprietor or the company head who manages to personally keep intouch with his clients, retains the hold better than a company with a lot of staff. In our profession, rapport, trust and network means much more than jazzy offices,corporate lingo and manpower.

Clearly, PR practitioners, just as Bollywood itself, need to keep up withtechnological changes. Currently, quite a few celebrities have been bloggingon Web sites such as PassionForCinema.com and IndiaFM. How effective doyou think this technique is? 

All new-age changes are very important and instrumental because technology andPR go hand in hand. A publicist, who doesn’t adapt and consistently learn andevolve, stands the risk of being stagnated. In my ten years in this profession, I haveseen many Bollywood PRs being wiped out just because they were not tech savvyand couldn’t change with the times. It could be scary for any PR, especially veterans

 – but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

What trends do you think will soon be taking place with Bollywood PR? 

Mobiles phones will be the new TV sets. Webcams will take over the communicationactivities of the mobile phone. Get set for remote control PR. I could be sitting in anycorner of the world and placing write-ups in newspapers and throwing in news pegsfor channels catering to a particular region and community. The PR world will soongo wireless. Right now, I am operating from an island called Madh (a little away fromthe hustle-bustle of Mumbai city life), and doing pretty well for myself. While manyare busy battling traffic jams, I’m already having a decent mix of work and thebeaches. </I(WINKS)< I>

 You’ve had a lot of experience in journalism, and I’m sure you use that to your advantage when pitching to the media. I’ve noticed that instead of sending outstandard press releases, you actually send out releases which resemblefeature articles. Tell us a little bit about your background in journalism, andwhy you decided to make the transition to Bollywood PR. 

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Very interesting question. I started out in journalism 21 years ago, when I was insixth standard in school. After freelancing for children’s magazines, I started doingaudio reviews and film reviews. Later, when I was in first year in college, I joined anewspaper and worked on the business and magazine desks. After graduation, I

 joined as Chief Sub-Editor-cum-Reporter in ‘Cine Blitz’ magazine. It was difficult tomake a transition from mainstream journalism to gossip journalism as the writingstyles are different, but I managed. Later, I freelanced for ‘The Indian Express’,

‘Screen’, ‘Showtime’, ‘The Asian Age’, ‘Moviemag International’ and others. It isaround this time I felt that I was kinda stagnating in journalism. PR was the nextlucrative option. Firstly, it had more money. Secondly, due to the larger reach I couldhave, it gave me a sense of clout with added social responsibility. What’s more! Icould continue writing articles and press releases if I wished. This aspect of theprofession took care of my creative satisfaction too. So I made the transition in 1997.In just two months of entering PR, I came to realize that while journalism was aprofession, PR was a business. I’ve survived and grown – at times, much above myown expectations. I no longer write my press releases as I have outsourcedcopywriters for the job, but my experience in journalism helps a lot. I think like a

 journalist and act like a PR.

How do you feel when people just copy-paste your press releases on their Websites? 

Not only on Web sites, it happens all the time with newspapers too. I’ve often been

told that my press releases have been responsible for making journalists lazy towrite. But I can’t help it. I have to be immaculate in whatever I do. At least, that’swhat I constantly strive for.

The relationship between the media and PR practitioners is that of a love-hateone. Since you’ve also worked as a journalist, what are some mistakes you seePR practitioners making when dealing with the media? 

There are many, but the most common mistake is to think about only the client andtheir needs, rather than look at what a journalist wants. I feel, a good story shouldprecede the client and PRs requirements, and everything else automatically falls intoplace.

What are the pitching angles that appeal to the media — for example, do youthink negative leads are picked up more often, since many journalists followthe “if it bleeds, it leads” philosophy? 

Let me tell you a little PR secret. Good publicity is good. Bad publicity is better. Uglypublicity is the best – cause it travels the fastest and strongest. The worst of all is nopublicity.

As Bollywood globalizes, do you see the potential of various clients workingmore with global PR firms instead of India-based firms? 

Indian firms are good enough to cater to the West. I should tell you that just a weekago, I received the ‘Crossover Publicist of the Year’ award by the Suvidha GauravAchiever Awards Foundation in Mumbai. This was given to me for publicizing andpositioning my clients Shilpa Shetty and Ashok Amritraj in the international media. If Ican do it, so can the other PRs. With superior technology in our palms, the world isbecoming smaller by the day. I don’t think Bollywood needs to outsource PRs as longas the current lot here is ready to reach for the skies.

What do you think separates Dale Bhagwagar Media Group from other agencies/firms which offer Bollywood PR services? 

My brains. I’m trying hard not to sound too boastful though. (winks again) 

 You have quite a few clients such as Hrithik Roshan, Shilpa Shetty, VivekOberoi, Randeep Hooda, Nikita Anand, Diana Hayden, Shamita Shetty, ChunkyPandey, Vinta Nanda, Raman Kumar, Jatin Kumar, Ritesh Sidhwani and FarhanAkhtar’s ‘Excel Entertainment’ and Ashok Amritraj’s ‘Hyde ParkEntertainment.’ How do you decide to take on a new client? 

I look at three aspects before taking on a client. One, will the client be importantenough to further my passion to continue as a leader in my profession. Two, will theclient offer me the price I deserve. And three, will the client be pleasant to vibe with.

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If these click, then we are on.

Do you prefer to stay away from taking on clients who are newcomers and whoare not well known? 

Not if the probable client seems to hold a lot of promise.

What are the pros and cons of taking on newcomers versus established actorsas clients? Is it easier to work on branding a newcomer since the media has nopreconceived notions about them, or is it easier to generate hype when actorsare already established? 

While its fun to mould an image of a person who has not been established in themedia, at times, it’s also difficult to make the media plug a newcomer. On the other hand, generating buzz about established names is much easier, though less of achallenge for the PR.

 You have many clients, however, not all of them seem to receive equalattention from you — how do you decide your PR strategies for variousclients? 

It seems like that as PR exercises are often done in phases. Many-a-times thepublicity of an actor or a film is held back till the project nears release. There is alsothis new trend of employing PRs to see to it that certain actor clients are kept ‘away’from constant media glare. In such cases, the lull works for the hype that follows

during film releases. This way, the media is also hungrier to catch a glimpse of theactor. Apart from this, there are a lot of controversial stars who also hire PRs for crisis management. With the way the gossip press is hounding our celebs, protectingreputations is fast becoming a bigger job for PRs than building them.

One of the most difficult aspects of PR is evaluating and measuring results.How do you approach the evaluation step of PR? 

I maintain Press Clipping Files with Print and Internet clippings for my client’sreference. I also have three prominent TV monitoring agencies tracking andrecording TV programs of my clients on a national level.

Are there things your clients do which you can’t stand? — for example, inHollywood, you see celebrities regularly making big and embarrassingmistakes, which makes it really difficult for their PR practitioners to portraythem in a positive light. 

Last year, I had a gutsy client called Sherlyn Chopra who regularly amazed andamused me with her bold and bizarre statements in all the interviews I conducted for her in the media. But no, she was never an embarrassment. In fact, most of the time,she impressed me with her quotable quotes. The media too loved her for giving goodcopy. But then, she parted ways with me after our first term, stating that I was toomanipulative and was trying to be “God” in life. She didn’t like being told what to do,and being a talkative PR, I loved to advice.

Who is one client you really want to take on? 

Aamir Khan from Bollywood and Sylvester Stallone from abroad. Both havemanaged to leave a lasting impression on me with some of the inspiring films theyhave done. And, I want to do something for them in return.

 You don’t have too many clients from the music industry. Is this a personaldecision? 

If a good music client comes along, I’ll take up the work. In the past, I’ve handled PRfor bhangra icon Daler Mehndi, ghazal king Pakaj Udhas, ghazal queen PenazMasani, pop icon Anaida and bhajan samrat Anup Jalota – all leaders in their musicsegments. I have also done work for a lot of music companies including ‘TipsIndustries Limited’ and publicized more than 40 music albums till date.

 You’re one of the most-quoted Bollywood PR practitioner. In fact, you seem toend up getting just as much publicity as your clients. 

I believe in the benefits imaging and branding so much that I can’t help but do a littlefor myself. Yes, I tom-tom about myself, boast a bit at times and blow my owntrumpet whenever I find extra time. Rest of the hours, I’m passionately promoting my

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