Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2001 5:53 pm
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12 steps to promotion
Roshmila Bhattacharya
There are no rules in cinema... No guarantees...No formula for success... Not every actor can be a superstar. Not every film can be a superhit. Just like talent has to be nurtured and nourished through the years, in the same way a product has to be packaged well and promoted shrewdly before it hits the theatres... and for weeks after to keep the cash counters jingling. Positioning a film right is half the battle won. A breakdown of the strategies a producer employs in his high-powered media campaign to reach out to his audience and bring them into the cinemas screening his dream...
MUHURATS
The launch of a film is usually a glitzy affair complete with the coconut breaking ceremony, veterans and mascots sounding the clapper board and switching on the camera, preceded by a lengthy consultation with the pandit on the shubh day and muhurat. There’s an advantage to be gained from all this show shine though. It almost always ensures a huge press turnout at the opening of the film, followed by reams of news print.
On February 27, this year, Vinod and Gaurang Doshi launched their second production Deewar at Mumbai’s Land’s End hotel. A special 60-second promo had been specially shot for the occasion with the three heroes by director Milan Luthria. It was screened after Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Akshaye Khanna unveiled giant-sized portraits of themselves with a click of the remote control. Obviously, the Doshis had taken their cue from Mukul Anand who had announced his Khuda Gawah in the same way with a specially shot trailer at Mumbai’s Gaiety cinema.
Deewar that had already grabbed attention when it was insured for Rs 30 crore, the highest amount ever, certainly benefited from the much-talked-about media event. At a time when distributors are shying away from commitment, this star-studded drama about prisoners of war across the border, was sold at Rs 3 crore per territory on announcement.
PRODUCTION NOTES
Once a film goes on the floors, press releases arrive from the publicist with clockwork regularity to keep trade weeklies and through them the paying public, informed on its progress. So you learn that Mission Bangkok, the first ever Indian Bond film, will be shot in Thailand from August with somebody called Iqbal Khan playing the suave super spy. That over the next fortnight, Shatrughan Sinha, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar, Suneil Shetty, Om Puri, Rahul Dev and so many other men will be at work on Madhur Bhandarkar’s Aan—Men At Work. That the last song of Love In Nepal was picturised in, no, not Kathmandu, but in Goa from June 4 to 7. That the final day’s shoot of Taarikh—The Final Day was completed on June 19. That Hottest Mail.com has started dubbing. That a print of Miss India—The Mystery is out. That Ek Hindustani has gone to the censors. And that Govinda and Preity Zinta want to know if from July 25 they can Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen?.
STILLS, CALENDARS & BROCHURES
Every time a shot is canned, the still photographer on the sets clicks a picture for the album so continuity can be maintained. Copies of these ‘stills’ are circulated along with press releases, through the making of the film to build interest in the project.
Once in a way, a creative team comes up with a calendar that keeps the interest alive even after the film’s release. The Devdas picture spread brought out by Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao last year for Universal that had bagged the music rights of the Rs 50 crore extravaganza for an exorbitant Rs 12 crore, was a collector’s delight.
This year, Dinesh Gandhi promoted his Rs 18 crore Armaan, script-writer Honey Irani’s directorial debut, with a calendar that had six six stills featuring the four leading actors—Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Preity Zinta and Gracy Singh—blown up to 19 x 27 inches, along with a 12 month date list.
Brochures are another way, albeit an expensive one, of catching the eye. At the moment booklets of Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, 3 Deewarein, Koi...Mil Gaya, Gangajal and Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s Pinjar are vying with each other for newspace.
MUSIC RELEASES
Songs are usually recorded long before shooting starts and the music is released at least a month or two before the film opens. Dream merchants have realised that chart-toppers are the best publicity for their film and can not just help build and sustain interest in it, but also bring in a substantial revenue. His Rs 8 crore deal with Tips helped Subhash Ghai cover almost half the production cost of Yaadein while Mukesh Bhatt earned back his entire investment of Rs 4.50 crore on Raaz from the sale of its music rights alone. No wonder, the music of a film is released with so much hungama. The incentive of a ‘first look’ at the songs and the presence of the film’s stars and perhaps a couple more to unwrap the glitzy wrapping and officially launch the cassette/CD in the market (Amitabh Bachchan did it for Andaaz, Shah Rukh Khan for Chalte Chalte), usually has the journos crowding in.
Once in a while, a producer deviates from the standard, five-star hotel fare and still manages to make news. Subhash Ghai and Mukta Arts released the music of Ek Aur Ek Gyarah on February 14 this year but not with roses, hearts and valentines. Instead, at the Bombay Petit Municipal School in Mumbai, in the presence of 500 school children. Ghai and Govinda made music and donated 11,000 sets of stationery to needy students of various schools around the city.
Once the cassettes/cds are out, the songs are regularly played on radio and TV channels, supplemented with film clips and specially shot videos when the songs are not a part of the film like Bhoot, and do their fair share of attention grabbing.
In ’67, LV Prasad promoted his Sunil Dutt-Nutan starrer, Milan on the strength of its ‘hit parade of haunting melodies’, each one of the songs, from the evergreen ‘Hum tum yug yug se geet milan ke gaate rahenge...’ to the text-book style ‘Sawaan ka mahina, pawan kare sor...’, from the hummable ‘Bol giri bol tera kaun piya...’ to the melodious ‘Ram kare aisa ho jaye...’, listed out in the ad. “Hear these songs in the picture you will cherish for ever,†the “musical†campaign entreated.
COURTING COUPLES & CONTROVERSIES
They are a surefire way of grabbing headlines or at the least getting their film a mention in the gossip columns. Kumar Gaurav and Vijayeta Pandit’s real-life love story made their reel-life Love Story that much more appealing. The fact that Gaurav broke off his engagement with Reema Kapoor to promise himself to Vijayeta, added that extra dash of spice to their prem kahani.
Sometimes, when working in close proximity doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, an affair is fabricated to find the film a following. It was too much of a coincidence, for instance that whispers of Bindiya Goswami hush-hush relationship with Asrani started doing the rounds soon after the actor launched his maiden directorial venture, Chala Murari Hero Banne.
Film-makers whose hero and heroine are not courting, court controversy at times to sell their film. Last year, K. Shashilal Nair and Manisha Koirala whipped up a bada sa controversy over four titillating scenes which the actress claimed had been shot on her body double without her consent, and made a “hit†of their Ek Chhoti Si Love Story.
Subhash Ghai had feared for his film when a concerned father who’d overheard his daughter singing, ‘Chholi ke peechey kya hai...’ moved court seeking a ban against what he perceived was offensive lyrics. The case only fanned the public’s curiosity in Khal-Nayak. Sanjay Dutt’s arrest just before the film’s release, added fuel to the fire. In many territories Khal-Nayak earned back its money within two weeks of it’s release, a record given the hard times.
SHOCK & AWE CAMPAIGNS
Raj Kapoor was master of the publicity game. He kept his discovery, Mandakini hidden from the press till 75 per cent of Ram Teri Ganga Maili was complete. Then, the total blackout was lifted with the showman’s publicist, Bunny Reuben releasing one picture of Ganga draped in a wet sari that left little to the imagination. It created just the kind of “splash†Raj Kapoor had wanted.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Randhir Kapoor who had triggered off a national debate about who would play the title role in his Henna, released one black-and-white picture of Zeba Bakhtiar in The Times Of India, and kept curiosity running high by vanishing with the Paki beauty immediately after to the hills of Kulu for a shoot.
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.ph ... nt_id=5054
Edited By arsh on 1058547272
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