The Shakti Of PR

Of Shakti Kapoor getting mobbed by girls and worse press releases making it to news.

WrittenBy:Abhinandan Sekhri
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We may not have highly-placed sources in the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or anywhere else (I do in the Aam Aadmi Party but they never tell me anything because you never know where I might shoot my mouth off). But we have exclusive (okay, maybe not, but exclusive is quite loosely used anyway) access to a Press Release issued by what obviously appears to be Shakti Kapoor’s Public Relations (PR) agency. So we figured we might as well break this news. Below we reproduce verbatim (not a word has been touched) the press release our “sources” sent us. No the PR agency didn’t send Newslaundry a copy because who the f**k are we anyway.

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Shakti Kapoor mobbed by girls in a mall in Delhi

Shakti Kapoor is a hard working man. While working on many projects simultaneously, the actor also makes up few time for himself. Recently, while shopping in a mall in Delhi, the actor was surrounded by a barrage of girls.

When the girls spotted the celebrated villain, they all rushed towards him, clicking pictures.

According to the sources, the actor was stunned when a girl screamed “Oh My God! SHAKTI KAPOOR!”. It didn`t take more than a minute for all the girls present to turn their heads and gather round him. They were so excited on seeing him, that many of them got chatty with him. A few even told him that they loved his daughter Shraddha in Haider.

Shakti being a gentleman that he is, even stopped for a few selfies in the mall with his other fans. What a man!

The actor has his kitty full and is working in a number of films like Ramesh Sippy`s Simla Mirch with Hema MaliniBalaji`s Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 with Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab ShivdasaniManoj Aggarwal`s Surkh Wala Love with Jimmy Shergill and Hrishitaa Bhatt, and Paresheshanpur to name a few.

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Now that you’ve had your laugh, the sad fact is this. That a PR agency will send such a press release to news organisations with the expectation that it will get published is not ridiculous or far-fetched. The fact is that many press releases do go as news. Maybe not Shakti Kapoor being mobbed by girls in a mall, written in terrible English, but corporate mergers, acquisitions, product and service launches, new projects, ports, SEZs and other such fancy stuff. Many are reproduced verbatim like we have done without checking whether the girl at the mall did in fact scream “Oh my God! SHAKTI KAPOOR.” Just that those are written by highly-paid PR professionals who are also better writers hired by influential people whose well-drafted drivel finds its way into the news you consume – online, offline and on air.

So thanks Shakti for the laughs but at least you don’t do as much harm to news as many similar practices on issues that impact governance have made routine.

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