I had to beg her...: 'Mr & Mrs Bachelor' director on promotion controversy

Director Deepu Karunakaran has expressed his disappointment over the lack of promotional support from the heroine for his upcoming film Mr and Mrs Bachelor. The film, starring Indrajith and Anaswara Rajan, has faced delays in its release, and the director has alleged that the heroine has been reluctant to participate in the film's promotions despite repeated requests.

Deepu Karunakaran stated that the heroine was highly cooperative during the shooting of the film but has now refused to engage in its promotion.

"She is the person who cooperated with me the most during the shoot of this film. Many times, even when the film was about to be stopped, she stood by and said, 'Sir... I am with you, let's finish it'. But when it came to the promotion of the film, I was surprised that she did not cooperate," he said.

Social media promotion issues

The director revealed that the film’s audio rights were sold to a company for Rs 10 lakh, with a focus on promoting the songs through Instagram. However, he claimed that the actress refused to share the promotional posts on her official Instagram page.

"The audio rights of the film were given to a company for Rs 10 lakh. They are mainly trying to get the song to reach Instagram. When the song in the movie was released, they were asked to post a promotion post on their Instagram page. But she was reluctant. I faced a lot of pressure from the music company. When I called for a promotion, the response was something like ‘let’s see’," he stated.

"Four songs in the movie have been released. None of them could be promoted significantly on Instagram. What the music company wants is to get more reach on Instagram. This young actor has a Facebook account. A page that fans handle. They promoted the song on it. But, she did not post or promote it on their official page. She promotes many movies on her own page. I don’t know why she didn't do this for this movie. She didn’t explain why," he added.

Deepu Karunakaran mentioned that he had made multiple attempts to resolve the issue by contacting the actor's mother and manager. However, his efforts did not yield results.

"I spoke to her mother and manager many times. There was even a situation where I had to beg her. Then her mother said, ‘I can’t say anything more beyond a certain point, it depends on her decision.’ When I called the manager, nothing happened except saying, ‘Will post it now… will post it in five minutes, 10 minutes..’ Finally, Indrajith, the hero of the film, called her directly. He said, ‘This is not right, it's our film.. You should promote it…’ She said okay and hung up the phone.

Awaiting release 

The director expressed his uncertainty about whether the actress would participate in future promotional events. However, he stated that the film’s release date would be announced soon.

"The release date of this film will be decided soon. Then I will do a promotion. Let’s see if she attend the event or not. There is no solution in making this a controversy or to keep on requesting. Even now she can upload a post on Instagram. That way, the issue will be sorted. And I won't have to mention this matter through the news. If I mention this to association directly, she will have to do it anyway. I didn’t do it because I was considering the time of promotion. That's what I'm waiting for."

Film’s delayed release

Mr. and Mrs. Bachelor was initially scheduled for release in August, 2024. However, due to unspecified reasons, the film was not released on the planned date. The director and the production team are now making efforts to ensure its theatrical release this year.