always on FM and practically all theaters were showing Sivaji; there is no better way to promote a movie. Kalaipuli Thanu too is known for his aggressive style of marketing. Quite a few years back, in 2001, when publicity was not a much talked about aspect, he went all out for Aalavandhan. That unfortunately did not work. But, in 2007, he proved that he has not lost his taste for big time promotion when he launched Kanthaswamy in a style that was never before seen in Tamil cinema, making it an overnight sensation. Now, with a grand audio release ceremony, he has set the stage for a big release which will probably work wonders for him. Another publicity and marketing icon of Tamil cinema is Aascar V Ravichandran. He has been the best over the past decade or so. He made it a habit of adopting small films and releasing them with the required backing, Chiththiram Pesudhadi was one such movie. But, it is not the small stuff that he specializes in. In 2005, he showed Kollywood that a big budget can be feasible and even profitable with appropriate release strategies and top gear publicity – Anniyan. Three years later, he once again showed his big budget skills with the multi-crore Dasavatharam. The way the movie was promoted on TV might not have been one of the best, but its pre-release events, especially the Jackie Chan special audio launch were master strokes by a man who knew what he was doing.

As said above, around the same time last year, it would have been an interesting debate as to who among the three names mentioned above is the publicity and promotion king of Tamil cinema. But now, this debate has been rendered ineffective and meaningless by a new player in the field who is just too good inherently. Whom are we talking about? No, it is not any of those corporate giants - Ayngaran or Eros, it is South India’s most watched media conglomerate, SUN.

If one remembers right, it was with the Nakul-Sunaina starrer Kadhalil Vizhunden that SUN Pictures first entered film distribution. Now, a year later, it makes a lot of sense to talk about their primacy in promotion and marketing when another Nakul-Sunaina starrer Maasilamani is in theaters.

From Kadhalil Vizhunden to Maasilamani, SUN Pictures has bought around a dozen films including Thenavattu, Dindigul Sarathy, Padikkathavan, Ayan etc. Out of the films that they have invested in, only Ayan and Padikkathavan might qualify as comparatively big products. The rest are medium budget flicks that do not boast of much star power. Yet, SUN Pictures, has left no stone unturned in trying to make these films popular, of course, not without the cooperation and visibility that the SUN Network enjoys. Promos and trailers of all kinds, lengths and sizes are beamed on the main channels of the network, almost every five minutes. Even the most disinterested person will end up taking notice of such an incessant barrage of promotional videos. It is now being jocularly said that Maasilamani might be holding the all-time Tamil cinema record for having its trailer telecast most number of times on TV. Well, you might have to believe it if you turn on TV. SUN Pictures has certainly given new dimensions to publicity in Tamil, set new benchmarks and redefined the limits of promotion. But too much advertisement can be detrimental to a product too, raising expectations abnormally high.

But, SUN Pictures doesn’t seem to be stopping at this. In fact, they are now into their first production and we all know that it as big as it can get - Endhiran. More than Rs. 100 crores, Superstar, Shankar, Aishwarya Rai and A.R. Rahman – these names are publicity enough for any movie. But, SUN Pictures will not take anything for granted. Rumors are already afoot about how they intend to promote the movie, even the Superstar may be making a special appearance personally inviting people to theaters. With more than Rs. 100 crores riding on it, we can expect publicity for Endhiran to touch pitches and intensity never seen before. Maybe the same time next year we will be talking about how Endhiran holds the record for having its trailer telecast on TV the highest number of times.