Before the big-screen debut, celebrity relatives are testing fame on social media

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Unlike the traditional Bollywood template of flashy acting debuts, celebrity relatives are increasingly building loyal audiences on social media first and monetizing their personal brands before stepping into films, shows or mainstream entertainment projects.Figures such as Riddhima Kapoor, who is set to appear in a film soon, and Krishna Shroff, recently seen in multiple reality shows, have leveraged the low barriers to digital content creation to build personal brands and attract collaborations with companies before taking the mainstream entertainment route.Industry experts say the strategy is straightforward: a ready-made audience reduces marketing costs and lowers the risk attached to launching fresh faces in films and television. Instead of building visibility from scratch, producers and brands now rely on measurable engagement and documented fan bases.“These are individuals who may not have broken into mainstream acting or production, but they carry significant advantages: access, wealth, network, and a powerful surname.

The barriers to content creation and distribution are lower, and they're leveraging that,” said Harikrishnan Pillai, CEO and co-founder of digital marketing agency TheSmallBigIdea.In many cases, this isn’t even about fame alone, Pillai added, but a broader content marketing exercise.“They might be running a restaurant, a fashion boutique, or another business, and this becomes a compelling extension of that brand. This works because audiences get a space inside the living rooms of families they already admire.