Filmi tact ticks?
Film promotions are getting creative, quirky and fun, but are they wooing the audience?
It is a lot of fun to watch lead actors take centre stage during the promotions of upcoming films, and they are often times seen engaging in some bizarre creative tactics. Film promotions are meant to grab the attention and they are surely entertaining but are these strategies enough to pull in an audience?
To take a closer look at things, internationally acclaimed actor, Irrfan Khan recently collaborated with the popular comedy group All India Bakchod in a fun scheme as they recreated popular memes, right before the release of his film: Hindi Medium. Inspite of his quirky gimmicks to promote the film, Hindi Medium went on to gain a lot of rave reviews from the audience as well as film critics and the self-deprecating humour actually made him seem endearing!
Truth be told, it boils down to the content of the film, feels director Indrajit Lankesh, adding, “There is a very thin line between looking silly and intelligent. More than trying to be funny, it is about getting attached to a popular brand when they do something. But to emerge winner, the movie’s content should be able to sustain the excitement.”
Film director, Dinakar Thoogudeepa believes that when popular actors are capable of projecting themselves with a little humour, it makes sense to the audience. “It is a positive tactic for actors to take such an approach as it is entertaining and will stay in their minds. When you do a movie, you never know if it will reach a mass audience or not and publicity matters whether it is positive or negative.”
The idea with these marketing techniques is to associate the movie with an already famous face or brand and create a strong connection. The makers of Anushka Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh’s fantasy drama Phillauri made headlines during promotions, with hilarious spoof images of Anushka’s character Shashi, who is a ghost, carefully wedged into iconic situations like an Oscar ceremony, the first moon landing and even a scene from Sholay. The clever improvisation with the friendly ghost character fared well with the audience and critics.