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MADE TRAILERS: WAY TO GO! |
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Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam was showing
in one of the theatres of the city. And,
the movie came to the point where the
treasure seekers find a very old Hamilton
University ID card of Indiana Jones. The
scene (one of the most intelligent and
sarcastic spoofs ever in Indian cinema)
elicited a few giggles from the back rows.
The major portion of the audience was
staring blankly at the screen. It did
not make much sense to most people. Only
those who had seen the Indiana Jones franchise
were able to appreciate the joke.
It is not only the Indiana Jones episode
that did not get the full appreciation
that it deserved. Many other scenes from
the same movie had very well thought jokes
and spoofs which a large section of the
audience was not able to relate to. IKMS
is not the only movie to suffer from this
(that does not mean that the movie is
faring badly in theatres). It is in fact
doing extremely well. Only, it could have
been doing far better if all those minor
touches had been caught by the audiences.
Getting back to the main point, IKMS is
not the first movie to suffer because
the audience could not completely connect
with its content. There have been many
movies in the past that were ‘ahead
of their times’ and went unappreciated
at the box office. Like in the case of
IKMS, only those familiar with the cowboy
and Wild West type of movies will be able
to fully enjoy this product. The treasure
being hidden in a cave that holds several
dangers for anyone who enters it,
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trap doors, a riddle, acid wells etc.. are stereotypes
of western treasure hunt flicks like King Solomon
Mines and Mackenna’s Gold. An even bigger stereotype
is the fact that the entire structure (rocks, statues
and all) begins to implode the moment anyone clears
the final hurdle. Chimbudevan has taken a dig at all
these stereotypes in his film. But, to enjoy them,
one has to be familiar with the genre. The others
will sit through the movie; enjoy its storyline, situational
humour and go back home.
So, whose fault is it anyway? Nobody’s in particular.
One cannot wait for all the audiences to become cowboy
literate to make a film like IKMS. Nor can a director
take up the mantle of educating his audiences through
his film. The remedy in fact might lie in the way
a film is promoted.
At the moment, we are witness to a lot of noise and
colour in the promotional activities. There seems
to be a general formula for the promotion of all films.
There is nothing specific that suits a particular
film. Lots of trailers showing the fights, colourful
songs and bombastic dialogues are the basic composites
of trailers nowadays. There is also the customary
grand audio launch etc. on which a lot of money is
spent. Only if the producers are ready to spend on
the creation of tailor made promotional activities
for their films, then Tamil cinema publicity would
present a much better picture. The audience needs
to be primed with the genre of a film (especially
when it is as different and new as in IKMS). A well
primed audience will be a much better audience and
a film will be able to get what it deserves fully,
economically and creatively.
Perhaps, Kollywood can take a look at the way some
Hindi films are promoted. Eg.Ramgopal Verma’s
Agyaat started its promotional work by hanging dummies
resembling dead bodies in many parts of the city.
Phoonk 2 came with a contest daring people to watch
it alone in a theatre.
There is no need to get so radical, but there can
and should be promotional techniques that are tailor
made to the needs of a film. How? That is for the
top minds of Tamil cinema to figure out.
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