BEHINDWOODS COLUMN

Stars getting one step closer to the audience, actors not being mere puppets to their directors and films travelling beyond the four corners of the screen are the few things that happen when promotions are done in a unique fashion. On the other hand, selling a film to its audience is also no piece of cake. Marketing and promotions have become a separate entity that is allocated with budget from the pre-production stage itself. Be it fans waiting for a film's release or the actor's face value influencing the box office collection, currently, the showbiz is taken way more seriously than a couple of years ago. Movie making has become a business at all stages and promotions have become mandatory today.

 

An out-of-the-box thinker and a person who welcomes new age technologies, Kamal Haasan recently released the audio of his most-anticipated film, Uttama Villain via a mobile app. He uploaded the songs online for people to hear it right away amidst the audio release event that consisted a 1000 plus crowd. This is an innovative approach in Tamil cinema. Now, with 17 songs in the bucket the team could have packaged it even in two CDs but they chose to release it in an online platform. For me, it touched my senses and brought the songs over one click. This is a promotional stratagem that will be etched in the memories of everyone forever.

 

Talking about off-beat promotions, the Enakkul Oruvan team published some sensational posters before the film's release, based on its hit Prabalamagevey track. The posters were at their innovative best, containing pictures of the present and past of Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Ajith, Vijay and more. It was a stunning compilation to show their growth and journey towards stardom, quite literally. These posters shook the online world and made the film hotter in the social media.

 

Similarly, some weeks ago before the release of Anegan, the song Danga Maari became a superhit. It so happened that fans were enthralled in creating their own videos for Danga Maari. The director, KV Anand started a contest titled 'Dance4Dangamaari' to capitalize on this phenomenon and increase the anticipation levels. The film was a huge hit already with just one song!

 

Most recently, the film Rajathandhiram attracted everyone’s interest with premier shows not just for the VIP crowd, but specifically for the online reviewers and also for the general internet savvy public. This was a unique method used to get the attention of the online crowd, by making the film available for the important online influencers and even the next door guy. Since the film was good, thereon word-of-mouth took over.

 

Social media marketing has become the key to attract the Gen-Y crowd and make them involved in the movie before it is released. The tension is kept high, the anticipation level increases and the film gets a better visibility. With improvement in technology comes betterment in relationships that are farfetched to attain otherwise. Such promotions for films enable anyone and everyone to get an inch closer to the film world.

 

Anita