The art of selling films

Aggressive marketing strategies and insistent promotions have become an integral part of a film’s success story, feels Surekha Kadapa-Bose

I am not a marketing guru,’’ emphasised Aamir Khan in a recent interview. But the twinkling eyes and his smug smile belied his acceptance of the success mantra of his winning story.

The latest Shah Rukh Khan film, Ra.One, had a promotional budget of Rs 52 cr. It is the highest amount spent so far on any Hindi film. The previous highest budget was that of Bodyguard at Rs 22 cr, while 3 Idiots had a promotional budget of Rs 15 cr

This is one of the major changes that have swept the Indian film industry in the last decade or so. Every successful actor has become a marketing genius, by virtue of necessity.

What started as a gentle persuasion of wooing audiences to their films has now turned into an aggressive marketing strategy adopted by almost all production houses and actors concerned.

The Hindi film industry produces nearly 200 films in a year, of which only a handful are talked about. Out of that how many one would actually go and watch? After all, watching a film can burn a hole in the pocket. Each ticket costs between Rs 200 and Rs 400. Add to this, the cost of popcorns and cold drinks, which most children demand, and a movie for a family of four can render you poor by Rs 2,000 plus. Naturally a family would choose a movie, which has created a buzz, and has bankable stars.

It has, therefore, become almost mandatory for almost every movie, big or small budget, to have a substantial budget for promotion and campaigns.

This trend, of course, was picked up from their Hollywood counterparts, where at least 25 to 30 per cent of the total film budget is allocated to its promotion. In India, it was a mere 10 per cent, which is slowly increasing now. The highest promotional amount, so far, spent on any Hindi films as reported, is the latest Shah Rukh Khan film, Ra.One. The marketing budget was reportedly pegged at Rs 52 crore, of which Rs 15 crore was set aside for online promotion. The previous highest budget was that of Salman Khan’s Bodyguard, which had a promotional budget of Rs 22 crore. Even Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya had an allocation of Rs 20 crore, whereas 3 Idiots had a promotional budget of Rs 15 crore.

The reasons for this kind of aggressive marketing are many. The most important is the short lifespan of films and their music. Till the 1990s, films went to record silver jubilee (25 weeks), golden jubilee (50 weeks) and even platinum jubilee (60 weeks) hits.

Today, the first three days of film’s release decide its fate. Every Friday, a film releases and based on the marketing strategies adopted, the footfalls at the theatre come into account. But from Monday onwards, it is the content of the film that decides its final fate and journey. By then, the critiques have had a go at the movie, the audiences have given their verdict, which the electronic media is quick to highlight. It is the first weekend that has a huge impact on the recovery of the cost of the film, and for this, a well-planned promotional campaign is a major requirement for any film.

It was a different scenario in the days of Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra and others, when the name of the stars itself sold the film. Of course, marketing was present even in those days though only in nascent stages. Production houses like RK Productions (Raj Kapoor), Navketan (Dev Anand), Guru Dutt Movies Pvt. Ltd., Gemini Productions, BR Productions etc. stood for quality picture productions, with the result, most of them didn’t require aggressive marketing strategies.

Most of the producers did resort to some gimmicks like strategically publicised print media interviews, rumours of affairs between stars of a film etc. When Bobby was released, every film magazine and Sunday newspapers supplements carried gossip item that Dimple Kapadia was the love child of Raj Kapoor and Nargis. More than the good-looking teenager Rishi Kapoor, it was this gossip bit that pulled people to the theatres. These kind of tactics are followed even at present. Gossip about pre-release affairs, break-ups, and fight with co-stars, directors seems to have become the norms today.

Today, the electronic media has overtaken the print media. In fact, the small screen has become the latest home ground for most film promotions. Stars descend on serials, reality shows, panel discussions, even during the news hour, prior to the release of a film. Before Ra.One’s release, every channel had Shah Rukh Khan joking, dancing and singing Chhamak Chhallo.

Even Salman Khan, who is not a good talker, made it a point to sit through reality shows before the release of his films like Ready and Bodyguard. Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra, you name them and you will find most stars on the small screen promoting their forthcoming movies.

But there are other strategies, which have taken up the marketing scene by storm. Leading the pack is Aamir Khan. During the release of Ghajini, in which his character sported a close-shaven, near bald look in the film, these tactics had become the talk of the town, as Aamir made even the ushers in various cinema halls sport the Ghajini haircut. And to top this, at many places Aamir even gave haircut to passersby! Then, during the promotion of 3 Idiots, he went incognito/disguised himself and toured the country, including the house of former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. SRK went a step ahead. He used Twitter, Facebook, computer games, 3-D version of Ra.One to sell his dream project.

The Hindi film industry’s reach has been understood by several other countries quite well. Yash Chopra has marketed Switzerland through many of his movies. In a bid to woo the Indian tourist to Spain, the country’s tourism department invited the producer and crew of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to shoot there. Spain was blatantly and aggressively marketed in the movie and in the end, a vacuous film did such a roaring business that film producers, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, are still raking in the moolah.

During the release of Ghajini, ushers in theatres sported Aamir’s haircut

Movies don’t flop anymore, thanks to the availability of avenues to recover the money spent. Every film makes enough money through music rights, domestic and foreign market, TV rights, endorsements, merchandising, music downloads, channel partners etc. to recover a major part of its production cost even if not the whole of it.

Gone are the days when Kaagaz Ke Phool may have made Guru Dutt go broke or Raj Kapoor face bankruptcy following Mera Naam Joker being declared a flop.

However, due to these aggressive marketing trends, many low-budget good movies, which can’t spend a bomb on promotions, get sidetracked as distributors don’t buy the territorial rights and theatres run these films at a less convenient time slot. There are a number of examples, I am Kalam, Bol, Terrorist, were superb movies but as they lacked the marketing strategies, they couldn’t garner footfalls.

This trend has brought in an inclination of churning out feel-good but mediocre movies without any substantial content. But even though the first five days of its release decide the commercial success of the film, the staying power of the film is decided by its content. Otherwise, how could low-budget movies like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Monsoon Wedding and Tere Bin Laden have been appreciated?

A film’s content, however, still rules over all marketing strategies.