Varun Dhawan's HJTIHH 'promotes' viral making-out clip, pulls down negative reviews, bombards fake theatre reaction videos? Netizens lose cool (original) (raw)
BOLLYWOOD
Varun Dhawan's Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai's negative reviews are getting pulled down. Fake audience reaction clips are getting bombarded on Instagram. Yet, netizens have caught low-level marketing, and they are brutally trolling the makers.
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A poster of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, viral reel from the cinema hall (Image source: Screengrab, movie poster)
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Varun Dhawan and David Dhawan’s Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai received largely negative reviews, but managed to post an average opening weekend at the box office. As Sacnilk reported, the first weekend collection of the film is Rs 28.80 crore, and Rs 24 crore net in India. Now, in an attempt to boost collections, the film’s marketing and PR machinery seems to have stooped to questionable lows.
While creating hype is undeniably part of a PR team’s job, the increasingly forced tactics used to shape a narrative are becoming easy to spot. In this case, Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, and Pooja Hegde’s unfunny, borderline cringeworthy film is being aggressively pushed as the “biggest comedy entertainer of the year.” The promotional strategies feel outdated and overly obvious. What’s even more surprising is the makers’ apparent willingness to promote problematic content on social media.
A viral making-out video with shifting locations
A video currently going viral on X shows a teenage couple watching the film. In the clip, the boy is seen making out with another girl while his presumed girlfriend sleeps on his shoulder. The video bizarrely glorifies two-timing, with captions suggesting that the boy was “inspired” by Varun Dhawan’s characters. Even more suspicious is the fact that the same video is being circulated with different location tags—some claiming it’s from Delhi, others from Pune—raising questions about its authenticity.
Cheap marketing tricks from the #HaiJawaniTohIshqHonaHai team to pull audience to the theatres #VarunDhawan #MrunalThakur #PoojaHegde pic.twitter.com/kDovT4hsb4
— The Climax India (@TheClimaxIndia) June 7, 2026
Allegations of negative reviews being taken down
When a film fails to impress, criticism is inevitable. However, an influencer named Desicritic claimed that his Instagram rant reviewing the film was taken down, and his personal account (golden._.rayy) was suspended. In a follow-up video, he alleged that Varun Dhawan’s team was behind the removal of his content. He went on to criticize the actor for allegedly attempting to silence dissenting voices instead of taking accountability for the film’s shortcomings.
Here's the claim by Desicritic
Fake theatre reaction videos
There was a time when audience reaction videos from cinema halls were seen as a genuine measure of a film’s success. Today, they often come across as staged marketing tools. Clips from theatre screenings of *Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai* have surfaced online, showing exaggerated laughter at scenes that many viewers found unfunny. In several instances, the audio suggests the use of external microphones, making the reactions seem orchestrated.
Here are the videos
Some of these leaked clips even reveal major plot points, including the climax twist, further indicating a desperate attempt to generate buzz. Usually, if we share content from a cinema hall, we do get a copyright strike. But with these videos, it's pretty evident that the makers are okay with it. However, such gimmicks ultimately fail to resonate when the film itself lacks substance. The makers, PR teams, and marketing strategists would do well to realize that no amount of manufactured hype can compensate for weak content.
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