Hype up and encash!

Promotion mantra

Every newspaper, TV channel and radio station, seems to be full of actors promoting their upcoming films. So much so that the audience doesn’t get a breather at all. Just when you think you can watch something else by changing the channel, you would see the same stars promoting the same film again on the other channel. In this age of information overload, do people get tired of seeing promotional tactics of stars? Are these promotions essential? Moreover, do they make people go to the theatre to watch a particular movie? Metrolife speaks to a few people to find out.

Jabeer, a software engineer at IBM, watches a movie only if he wants to. “Promotions can be silly at times. Stars are linked or some kind of hype is created. So I always see the review of a film first and then watch it. I don’t really get carried away by promotions,” he says. An instance he gives of an overdose of promotions is that of Ra.One.

“So much of hype was created around that movie. But it was really disappointing. The story was a mix of so many other movies.” He adds, “But then, I didn’t go and watch because it was heavily promoted. I watched it because I had won tickets for it. Now, ‘Rockstar’ is being promoted heavily. And I want to watch it because some of my friends told me it’s a good movie.” According to Manoj Agarwal, a businessman, movies these days bank upon the collections on the first weekend.

“They are promoted a lot so that people come in the first week itself to see the movie. Unlike the films of the olden days, the film-makers now are not bothered about good content. They want to encash on the euphoria of the first week,” he says. “For instance, I heard Ra.One is not such a great movie. But the star values was so high that they got a good opening. As far as I am concerned, I wait for a while to get the reactions of my friends before going for a movie.”

Though movie-buffs say they don’t really go for a movie based on the promotional activities, those who are in the industry themselves beg to differ. Jibran Ali is the managing partner of an entertainment company called Gryphon Entertainment and has been a part of many movie promotions. “I absolutely believe that promotions help in making a film a success,” he quips. “There was a time when actors never did such things but nowadays, one needs to create hype. Look at Ranbir Kapoor, who has been performing in various cities to promote ‘Rockstar’,” he adds. 

Dabangg was one such film whose promotion Jibran was part of in Bangalore. He even interacted with lead star Salman Khan for the same. “If someone loves a star like Shah Rukh or Salman, he or she would do anything to get close to the actor. That’s when promotional activities like ‘Scratch a card and get lucky’ becomes useful. That’s because audience doesn’t let go of an opportunity to meet a star,” he notes. “So the more interactions the stars do, the more people get closer to them and in turn, watch the movie,” he sums up.

But in the end if there is one thing that all agree on, it’s the fact that content matters in any film more than any promotional activity. After all, the audience wants paisa-vasool entertainment doesn’t it?