Coronavirus India: Bollywood stars focus on start-up glory as pandemic steals spotlight

As the country’s film industry suffers a downturn, its stars are turning toward their own start-ups to secure their financial futures

Actresses like Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are among those who have launched dating apps, education sites and health and fitness products

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Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Deepika Padukone are among the Indian movie and television stars to launch start-ups. Photos: Instagram

Published: 10:00am, 22 Nov 2020Updated: 10:13am, 22 Nov 2020

In the run-up this month to India’s largest Hindu festival, Diwali, Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt created a buzz when she bought a minority stake for an undisclosed sum in Nykaa, an online beauty retailer with 70 bricks-and-mortar outlets across the country.

Bhatt’s investment came close on the heels of another Bollywood star’s investment in Nykaa – Katrina Kaif launched her own beauty line, Kay Beauty, on the platform last year.

Kay Beauty sells everything from mascaras (at upwards of US$10 apiece) to lipsticks (US$8 and up) and kohl eyeliner sticks (US$3 and up) among other cosmetics. Although the company does not share sales figures, it is doing well enough to launch a new product every few months or so.

Bhatt and Kaif are part of a growing pantheon of Bollywood biggies – including 78-year-old Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan, among others – who are launching their own brands or tying up with others, using their names as a cachet boost as they seek to secure their financial futures while Bollywood suffers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both Bollywood stars and producers are bleeding from staggering losses resulting from suspended film shoots, the shutdown of cinemas and consumers’ reluctance to visit the multiplexes across the country that remain open. Even during festive times, such as the just-ended Diwali holidays, when filmmakers release new movies in hopes of big payoffs from holiday crowds, traffic has been abysmally low at theatres.

Distributors and exhibitors estimate industry losses so far this year to be in the range of US$10 billion.

“Scores of movies that were on the verge of completion were stopped,” said Prabhash Pednekar, a Mumbai-based film distributor.

“Even when work resumes completely, actors will have to do without perks and large entourages they’re used to apart from reducing their fees,” he said, adding, “The epidemic has rewritten the rules of the game.”