Now, we are about to witness another seta-edge cinema
business game as Ra-One waits to get into theaters
for Diwali. Touted as the most expensive Indian film
ever, also the first authentic superhero movie from
India, Ra-One is sure to set new benchmarks in at
least some aspects of cinema. We cannot say anything
about the creative and technical sides as yet, but
what we know for sure is that Shahrukh Khan has taken
the publicity levels of the movie to henceforth unheard
levels.
Open the TV and all you can see is Shahrukh Khan.
Of course, that has been the case for almost a decade
now as SRK endorses almost every third product in
the market. But, now, you don’t just see him
in ads, he has splashed Ra One promos all over national
television. And, what a smart move to become the official
brand ambassador of the Champions League T20 (in spite
of being the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders –
no conflict of interest here; BCCI) and to put Ra
One teasers in between every over of every game. He
obviously knows that people from all parts of India
will definitely watch at least some part of the tournament,
especially down south because Chennai and Bangalore
are part of it. As a result, now, even people most
indifferent to Hindi cinema and SRK are familiar with
Ra One. And, it is not just Ra One, the average south
Indian non-cine fan is even familiar with Chammak
Challo and Dildara songs- the power of promotion!
But, there can be too much of a good thing. People
are calling this campaign as ‘suffocation’
instead of promotion because you can hardly watch
anything on TV without coming across SRK in his superhero
suit making cars fly out of parking lots. Sometimes
too much promotion can have an adverse effect. It
can be felt even now as people have started growing
tired of this unending barrage, almost developing
an aversion towards anything about the film. There
is also the danger of taking the expectation levels
to such heights that Ra One will start the box office
race behind the audience’s expectations. We
have seen this kind of thing happen before –
the publicity outdoing the film and then the audiences
feeling let down by the final product that doesn’t
live up to the hype.
We are not suggesting that SRK does not know what
he is doing. But, even he cannot have a concrete idea
about the people’s expectations or put a cap
on it when he wants to. The one thing he regulate
is the amount of publicity that the film is given,
retaining an amount of mystery about the film’s
content.
One cannot also help but think that King Khan is a
bit over anxious about his dream project. We know
that these days a top star’s movie from Bollywood
that is not too bad and is given above average publicity
can easily rake up a 100 crores. Take for example,
Dabbangg, 3 Idiots, Ready or Bodyguard. All 4 crossed
the magic 100 crore mark. One can safely that at least
3 of them were not masterpieces but just well made
entertainers with hit music. Even Singham threatened
to break the barrier. We know the stories of 3 of
these movies, all remakes of Tamil films. If such
run of the mill (at least a couple of them) plots
can do such astounding business, then a novel attempt
as Ra One with SRK in the lead need not feel paranoid
about its business prospects.
Yes, one cannot agree with all this splurging on publicity.
But, SRK did do one thing that has taken Ra One from
being a Bollywood product to an all India product.
That thing happened the other day at Mumbai when Superstar
shot for one scene. And that one scene has put the
film on the ‘most wanted ‘ list of most
South Indian film buffs. Now, that was as smart a
move as SRK could have made. For all the excess publicity
he has been dishing out over the past month, he realized
one thing; if he was going to make the biggest Indian
movie, then he needed the biggest Indian star in it’.
Now, one just hopes he doesn’t start a South
Indian publicity campaign which runs and re-runs the
one Rajni scene over and over again, making it appear
like a Superstar film, only for all the fans to feel
betrayed when the watch it on screen. Let Superstar
be the surprise element, and let the magic work. |
