In the last few days, the hashtags ‘Boycott Laal Singh Chaddha’ and ‘Boycott Raksha Bandhan’ have been trending on social media. The former, which is about Aamir Khan’s next film, is driven by those who are still irked by Khan’s 2015 comment on growing “intolerance” in India, despite him clarifying the same. In the case of the latter, starring Akshay Kumar, people dug out old controversial tweets by its writer, Kanika Dhillon.

Khan felt compelled enough by this boycott call that he said in a media address, “Boycott Bollywood, Boycott Aamir Khan, Boycott Laal Singh Chaddha... I feel sad also because a lot of people who are saying this believe that I am someone who doesn’t like India. That’s quite untrue.”

In the wake of such angst, we ask experts if social media holds the power to dictate a film’s fate in the box office.

Any publicity is good publicity, feels social media expert Sorav Jain. Citing the example of Padmaavat (2018), he explains, “When the title was changed and the film released, a lot of people went to watch it just to say that there is nothing wrong. Controversy on social media is a great way to market a film.”

Meanwhile, trade analyst Taran Adarsh feels social media negativity and the boycott trends stem from people’s emotions and cannot be discounted. “There is something people feel hurt about, you can’t ignore them,” he adds, asserting that social media is a “powerful tool that can affect a film’s collections”.

But when the negativity gets too extreme and repetitive, it loses its impact, feels producer Pritish Nandy. “It’s like the credibility of a corrupt film reviewer. They may have enormous power, but as people realize they aren’t trustworthy, their power diminishes. Same is the case with social media trolling,” he says.

Producer Anand Pandit feels such hashtags aren’t something makers of Laal Singh Chaddha should be concerned about. “These sentiments might lead to some restrictions on the opening day, but otherwise, I’ve seen films running on their own strengths. After the opening, no marketing or gimmick can work,” he tells us.

Referring to Khan as a person who “weighs his words carefully”, trade expert Atul Mohan says the actor must have known that him reacting to the boycott calls will add fuel to the fire. “I don’t think these hashtags work in favour or against any film, as they are often controlled by bots. But, these trends do generate some favouritism,” he adds.