Akshay Kumar’s Skyforce Scandal Unraveled – Corporate Bookings and Paid Reviews

One of the most contentious issues under the banner Skyforce is the fact that corporate bookings have artificially inflated its box office.

Corporate bookings are simply a mass-buying program by companies or other unrelated individuals that have ties to the producers of a film, just to create an illusion of good attendance.

Most of the social media videos are of nearly empty theaters, while on BookMyShow, it’s a sold-out show. Such pictures have led to a number of raising doubts about the box office collections.

Critics argue that this is another strategy where the viewers are made to go to the movie theater as everybody is talking about it, bandwagon effect.

Such tactics, very common among Bollywood but brazen in the case of Skyforce, saw reporting of booking for less-attended time slots in morning hours or late night shows increase to prove higher attendance.

This brazen manipulation does little but destroy whatever credibility has gone into the very figures of the box office, and thereby ruins the trust vested in the entire industry.

Differences in Reviews

The second major flaw is the strong contrast in reviews between minor critics and renowned publications.

While a few minor reviewers lavished praise on Skyforce to maximum and even awarded it as high as 4.5 out of 5, the review from the respected outlets like The Indian Express and The Hindu went as low as 1.5 stars.

This brings to question the impact of the film’s marketing team.

While paid reviews and biased critics are nothing new to Bollywood, the chasm of the Skyforce reviews is stark. While a few praised the movie’s action sequences and the patriotic undertones, others panned its shallow narrative and lack of depth.

Such practice of soliciting artificially favorable reviews, be it with money or be it through marketing influence, negated genuine audience reactions.

For Skyforce, such reviews would have made the movie sell with public as one of quality.

Extremely meager work could have gone into Akshay Kumar’s role

Akshay Kumar’s performance in Skyforce too has come under much severe criticism. It is being said that the actor was available for shoot for merely 20 days and there have been charges that he had read dialogues through teleprompter.

Such facts have also created confusion as to whether he really committed to his character, whether on this minimal scale of work he was not able to provide genuineness to his character’s representation.

The performance by Kumar has been criticized by audiences and critics alike as being shallow and less intense than the themes of such a film would call for.

In fact, there are opinions that the movie would have fared better with a younger or more interested actor as Kumar himself has been outdone by his co-star Veer Pahariya, who seems to hold great promise.

Script and Execution Mistakes

Criticisms have been pretty uniform in attacking the screenplay and the implementation of Skyforce. The story appears a little forced and incoherent.

A few scenes seem pulled together rather than crafted. All these flaws are taking away from the movie experience that viewers want to experience with a big-budget Bollywood film.

The disguised patriotism and by-the-book tale have been sharply condemned by most of the critics, as most viewers describe the movie as formulaic and boring.

On these grounds, the scripting errors may have led to the tendency of filmmakers to sponsor excessive corporate house bookings, whereby the natural flaw of the film was shielded under a spurious banner of popularity.

Patterns of Corporate Bookings

While bulk corporate bookings are not new to the world of Bollywood, the pattern noticed in Skyforce is what attracted considerable attention.

It has been reported that in general, during not-so-preferred time slots such as week-day mornings or late-night shows, bulk bookings took place.

This is a strategic decision that poses a red flag in such periods because these are the periods of natural attendance low.

This artificially inflates the occupancy during these periods. Producers thus present misrepresentations about the film’s popularity.

It gives an artificial peak to the box office numbers at the moment but does more harm to the credibility of the industry and sends away true movie lovers .

 Public and Critical Backlash

The backlash against Skyforce is more than the box office numbers. The quality of the film and how it has been manipulated through performance metrics has been all over social media.

Many people are disappointed with the film and its lack of originality and depth.

Public skepticism has led to a larger debate about Bollywood dynamics, in which marketing takes over the significance of authentic storytelling.

Skyforce controversies only go to indicate that there is more to Bollywood. The system of corporate booking and paid reviews diminishes the importance of box office success as an indicator of quality of a film.

When viewers are becoming wiser, these gimmicks can prove costly for the industry by eroding people’s trust.

Movies like this will further dent the reputation of actors like Akshay Kumar, who have already been accused of being complacent and may get more such knocks in recent projects.

Bollywood must take a quality storytelling route with transparent procedures to maintain its cultural importance and global appeal.

The Skyforce scandal begets an even bigger crisis in Bollywood, where marketing gimmicks and manipulations seem to appear larger than the art behind the creation of this particular film.

The producers may have managed to eventually create a temporary buzz but long-term consequences will have the cost where credibility flies away from its very able creators.

This requires the Bollywood industry to shift its priorities from inflated numbers and biased reviews to authentic storytelling in order to regain the audience’s trust, which is further needed to sustain itself in a highly competitive entertainment landscape.

Stay Connected and Share Your Stories

For all those inspired by stories of resilience and ambition, follow us on X/Twitter and on Instagram . For those with untold stories that you would love to share, please send them to contact@thephilox.com