Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 3, 2018)

Ever since news of their upcoming year-end wedding hit headlines, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone have been inundated with brand offers ranging from fitness products to home appliances. “Deepika is the highest paid actress in Bollywood today and Ranveer has his dates locked with A-list directors till 2019-end. With the couple delivering three super-hits — Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat — they have also consolidated their position as a power couple on screen. Every year, they receive eight to 10 brand offers to endorse together,” a source close to the couple tells Mirror, adding that after Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma tied up with a clothing brand in the run-up to their wedding in December last year, a similar offer has been made to Ranveer and Deepika.


THE RISE AND RISE OF CELEBRITY COUPLES
Virat Kohli, who is the most sought-after celebrity with a remuneration of Rs 4–5 crore per day for shoots, receives several offers for joint appearances with his actress-wife and fellow animal lover from NGOs.

When Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan were awaiting the arrival of their son Taimur, the couple who is not on social media, were offered big bucks to turn “influencers”. “Even their year-old son has received offers that are repeatedly turned down. They are constantly approached to do ‘live chats’ on the brands’ Instagram or Twitter handles in order to increase the companies’ followers,” a brand representative tells Mirror, adding that promotional tactics also range from product placement on the red carpet or media interactions where a certain ‘tagline’ which is in-sync with a brand is mentioned. “For instance, Ajay Devgn shoots a campaign for Rs 2 crore. But if a leading brand targeting married couples offers Ajay and his actress-wife Kajol a deal, it will cost them at least Rs 10 crore,” a brand expert informs.

SOCIAL WORTH
When Anand Ahuja started dating Sonam Kapoor in 2015, he had around 4,000 followers on Instagram. After their May wedding, the count has shot up to 375,000. “Ever since they decided to tie the knot, Sonam and Anand have been offered close to 12 magazine cover shoots as well as numerous brand promotions. Several brands had lobbied for a presence at their big Bollywood wedding and few made the cut, in the form of return gifts,” the source adds.

Twenty-three-year-old Mira Rajput, whose social media pages went public only after she moved to Mumbai after her wedding with Shahid Kapoor in July 2015, has raked up a follower count of 1.2 million in two and a half years.

“The advent of social media means the impact a relationship is having on a person’s profile can now be assessed by looking at how engagement — when people read, share or otherwise interact with a post — increases on messages featuring each couple. Relationships in the public eye often boost a celebrity’s commercial worth and can extend their shelf life, especially if they marry, have children or are believed to be in a relationship,” says Jeetendr Sehdev, a celebrity branding expert and professor of marketing at the University of Southern California. “Often, personal lives can become a couple’s unique selling point and the most marketable aspect of their personal brand,” he adds.

Shah Rukh Khan and his producer– interior designer wife Gauri are a prime example of how a relationship can charm a fan base and strengthen a brand that represents a happy household. “The fierce loyalty they display towards each other at public appearances, brand campaigns and film promotions is one of their most popular traits. Occurrences in their domestic life that are commonplace in most relationships, such as the growing up of their son AbRam or SRK’s experiments in the kitchen, are presented as news and reported extensively. They have a combined social media following of approximately 50 million,” a social media strategist informs.

The collective social media worth of other celebrities, like the newlyweds Zaheer Khan and Sagarika Ghatge, Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia and Neil Nitin Mukesh and Rukmini Sahay has also benefitted because of their joint appearances and posts. With wife Ankita Konwar, model-turned-marathoner Milind Sonam’s fan base has hit the one million-mark too. “On the other hand, a divorce or break-up can be damaging to a celebrity’s career, plunging their market value not only with brands but also at the movies,” a source shares.


TWIN APPEAL
Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are presently the hottest new couple in B-town, approximately valued at a whopping Rs 15 crore, to come on-board an annual endorsement deal together. “Celebrities become more valuable as couples by sharing their fan bases, negotiating new opportunities for movies, reality shows and by extending the life of their careers. This applies to the newest global couple, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas too, who have been publicly flaunting their relationship, most recently in Mumbai and Brazil,” a top celebrity manager tells Mirror. “Couples such as Ranbir and Alia are individually household names and anything that they work on together, such as promoting a product, enables them to charge a higher fee. When the media becomes more interested in a couple, this enables them to increase their net worth,” the source says.

Meanwhile, a producer opines that it is no surprise that a leading actor insists that their partner feature in a film alongside them to increase their market value. “A former leading lady has been turning down offers to feature in fitness videos as well as films unless her husband is given an equal role in the project. Another actor threatens that his actressgirlfriend should be given a film under the same banner or in the same film as him or he will walk out of the project,” an industry source shares. “Ironically, a film’s eventual success or failure also greatly impacts a couple’s relationship status. A flailing film career often leads to heart-break of more than one kind.”