Promotional overkill: Bollywood goes pretty extreme with film promotions
14 Aug 2014 4:40 AM IST
Even as Bollywood stars go all out to promote a film, T-Town feels it’s money down the drain
Akshay Kumar and Tamannaah Bhatia in Hyderabad to promote their film. (Photo: DC/File)
Mumbai: From the dog Junior travelling from one city to another with Akshay Kumar to promote Entertainment to Vidya Balan’s changing looks in real life to fit the latest character she is playing, Bollywood goes pretty extreme with film promotions these days.
Many Tollywood filmmakers, however, feel that it is all a waste of time and money as a good script speaks for itself. And the Tollywood folks might have a point. Despite the aggressive promotions, Entertainment bombed miserably. So why do filmmakers still go to extreme lengths and spend crores on promotions?
Director and writer of Avunu and Laddu Babu, Ravi Babu, thinks Tollywood doesn’t need promotions. “Instead of spending huge amounts of money on these stunts, you can grab eyeballs through a great poster and the idea itself. What about the times when films did well despite not having promos? In Tollywood itself, you’ve had so many films that have raked in the money at the box office with hardly any promotions.”
Meanwhile, director Madhura Sreedhar says, “It’s a simple formula. When a big star works in a film, they automatically become an important aspect of the project. People will flock to the theatres solely because of the star. If the story is fine, the others will follow. But, sadly in the case of small budget films, promotions is the need of the hour. Or else it will bomb at the box office.”
Sreedhar adds, “Every director needs to set aside at least Rs 75 lakh or a crore for promotions alone. Or else, no one will even have an idea that a film has released.”
Director Renzil D’Silva says, “Promotions are a critical aspect of a film. The entire process is like an ad. The ad might be crazy, quirky and it might or might not sell. But in the end, the popularity of a product is based on the quality of it.”
Tollywood town director, Nandini Reddy, says, “We live in a world where there is enough distraction already. The Internet, newspapers and TV. So sadly promotions have become a necessary evil for filmmakers. We have to try and get our product noticed in whichever small corner we can find. No one enjoys promotions, but they have to do it.”
Despite all the hard work, the effort put into a promotion does not guarantee a hit. “A hit is debatable,” says Raj, director of the up-coming film starring Saif Ali Khan, Happy Ending. “There is no way to correlate how well a film does at the BO and the promotions.
( Source : dc )
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