If You Have The Money, PR Can Make You Whoever You Want To Be: Samyuktha Hegde

Tamil and Kannada actress Samyuktha Hegde, who was recently seen in Kannada film Thurthu Nirgamana, talks to Kairam Vaashi about the career building strategies that exist in the film industry, the works of PR strategists and how money can be used to create an image in people's minds. 

Edited excerpts below:

As a heroine, can one strategise their career a certain way? Everyone has a different graph, but for some, it appears to have skyrocketed. So with your experience of having worked in two or three industries, can you say if a career graph can be orchestrated?

Yes, it can be orchestrated, if you have the money for it. If somebody comes from a place of privilege where he has a Godfather or if they have a good amount of money backed up for them, they can hire a PR who can make you whoever you want to be. 

But who are the brains behind this?

So there are people who take money to help you out with this. Everything in your life gets a news aspect thanks to them. If you start dating someone, it becomes news. If you break up, it becomes news. If you go to the supermarket, it becomes news. 

But can anyone live such a fabricated life? 

I'm saying you definitely can. But for this life, you have to give your other side. Your whole life is out there and you can sacrifice your privacy. How much of it they will see, how much you want them to see…it is all in your hands. 

So, if I want to become an actor and I want people to have a particular perception of me between 2023 and 2024, you are saying it's possible to create it?

Absolutely! There are PR strategists who will ask you this question. If you make it to that network, then everything works for you. So if you go to a PR strategist and ask them to make you a "Chocolate Boy", they will plan everything to make you into one. From photo shoots to everything else, it will revolve around it. "Crush of Karnataka, Crush of India," these tags are also a result of spending money. You are building an image in people's minds. Maybe the first day you saw her, you did not say this. But by the 10th day, with all the grooming, you start calling her that, too. You can sell whatever you want. I personally don't want to be that.