Why filmmakers here are holding focussed events to attract cinema’s most vibrant fans — college students
Malls and multiplexes are passé. Tollywood’s filmmakers these days are targeting colleges to market their films, perhaps because students make up a large portion of the audiences. Earlier, director Sekhar Kammula used to promote his films only at educational institutions, but that was because a few of his projects had a college backdrop. The films had clicked at the box office, and now some actors and filmmakers are trying the same strategy — even if the films do not have a college setting.
“You can’t promote a mass film in a college. If it has a college backdrop or is a youth-oriented film, then you can target the college audience,” says Dil Raju, who had promoted his film Kerintha across several colleges a few months ago. “My film had a college backdrop and was youth based, that’s the reason why we visited many colleges and the response was amazing. But yes, these days, the youth audience is very important for a film’s success,” says Raju.
The Kerintha team had visited many colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh including the VVIT College, Guntur. Akhil Akkineni, too, kickstarted the promotion of his debut film Akhil at city’s St Francis College for Women recently. “Promoting movies in colleges is something which has not been tried before in the Telugu film industry in a focused manner. I have seen Bollywood actors promote their films in colleges to connect with the current generation. This, I always felt, was the best way to reach out to fans and engage with them face to face, as well as to develop new fans and an audience base,” says Akhil.
Not only Akhil, director and producer Gunasekhar too has started promoting Rudhramadevi in a college. He has even asked colleges if they want his team to visit them. “My film is an historic one, and based on a true story. In fact, Rudhramadevi is a lesson in schools and colleges. Every student should know about our history and that’s the reason I decided to promote my film in colleges,” says Gunasekhar, adding that he wanted to create some curiosity among students.
Gunasekhar had started his publicity with the CMR Group of Institutions almost a month back. “We are planning to visit other colleges soon,” says Gunasekhar.
A few months back, the team of Yevade Subramanyam had visited Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology to promoted the film. Not surprisingly, most of the films that are promoted in colleges star young actors.
“Certainly, youth-based movies will have potential to create a new fan base if the star lends this personal touch in their film’s promotion,” adds Akhil.
