Euphoria has been making music for nearly three decades, from its first commercial album Dhoom in 1998 to Dhoomsday in 2026. In a recent interview frontman Dr Palash Sen talked about how music has changed, how hard the landscape has become for independent artists and bands, and what he thinks of “funded” negative PR campaigns.
Sen recalled a top female actor whose film trailer got more dislikes than likes, which led YouTube to remove the dislike button. He said no one could tell whether the backlash was genuine or paid for. As both positive and negative PR can be bought, he said, artists can no longer tell whether what is written about them is real.
On Bigg Boss 20, Salman Khan had said that trolling people has become a “business.” Sen told SCREEN, “He’s a part of starting this. Let’s not forget that. Problems never arise from the bottom of the hierarchy, it starts from the top. I am not pointing a finger at anyone but if you live by the sword, you are also going to get killed by the sword. Everybody in the film industry who has maintained their position for many many, years, obviously has played with the PR guys, we all know it. One day, you can start saying things and sound like a saint. Though it was very very brave of him to say what he did. I am telling you he was part of the problem. We all know it.”
Sen said this is one reason he doesn’t live in Mumbai. He doesn’t know how to deal with the industry’s politics, join camps, or flatter powerful people. He said he could have taken that path after Filhaal, but chose not to because he saw that the industry is built on showbiz, not truth.
He also questioned whether Khan’s remarks on the show were spontaneous. He said there is no way to know if they were scripted or genuine, and that telling the difference has become very hard.
During the episode, Khan had criticised trolls who body-shame women after pregnancy. He didn’t name Katrina Kaif, but his comments came as she was being trolled over her postpartum weight. He also defended Varun Dhawan and his brother Sohail Khan against remarks about their looks, and asked why people turn to personal attacks over someone’s appearance.