Marketing of Bollywood films is overrated!

Article by Kabir

Marketing of Bollywood films is overrated

Apologies for not being regular in my features, but this week I was so busy standing outside Galaxy apartments that I couldn’t keep track of the time. Today, like always, I am very upset and confused. Upset because a film doesn’t work and confused because when the film doesn’t work the makers, like always, blame it on the marketing. For instance the recently released ‘Mr X’, there was no chance of it opening well since the first promo released. The VFX were shoddy and tacky, production value were substandard and music just about average (except 1 song which was good). I am pretty sure the makers in their head knew they had screwed up, but they had to pass the buck (famous human behaviour- “pass the blame syndrome” or “I did not screw up syndrome”). They were waiting for an opportunity and guess what, they received one.  The marketing team felt that the VFX were so tacky that they should position it as a kids/family entertainer; they very cleverly forgot that the first look of the film was an underwater smooch photo featuring Emraan Hashmi. That was it, the kids / family audience stayed away and so did Emraan’s target audience. The project which was already doomed was now crushed.

So my question to you guys is – who screwed up?

The answer - Marketing can never decide the fate of the film. It’s a myth wherein people fear that “marketing nahin kiya toh picture marr jaayegi”. The content of a film is its DNA; if that clicks people will happily pay up for the film. Take for instance the recently released ‘Piku’ or ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’. The same banner that released ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ had released ‘Daawat E Ishq’. For ‘Daawat..’ they had spent tons of money on the food yatra or road promotions. It did not make a single difference to the opening of the film. They underplayed ‘Dum Laga Ke’ and the results were magical.

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What exactly does one mean by Marketing of a film? What is the process?

Marketing begins from initial stage of a film wherein you position a film. Music is the most important part of marketing. Yes, music can lead to an opening of a Bollywood film. Famous examples are ‘Yaariyan’ (still don’t recollect the star cast of the hit film) or Aashiqui 2. Then the next stage involves interesting news articles of the film in the newspapers and websites (about the film + behind the scenes). Then promotion on television shows (every week ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ has one celebrity that only appears when the film is about to release). Final stages involves ground events (mall promotion + city tours). All this constitutes in making news. But if the content is boring, who would want to listen to the star cast or watch their interviews? (Example – Dharma’s ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’). When a celebrity goes to a mall, there is a huge crowd gathering (obviously everyone wants to see a celebrity). However, they do not promise entry into the theatres and the makers and marketing professionals look at the crowd and feel the movie is a guaranteed super-hit. But what they do not realise is, in India, when anything is offered for free, there will always be takers!

Hence, content determines marketing. If the content (in terms of trailer, songs and posters are appealing) then one would look forward to the entire campaign. If the trailer fails, everything falls with it. If the film has a confused trailer but interesting content and the makers are confident of the product then they should cut costs and not spend on marketing. And instead wait for the word-of-mouth of the film to pick up once it releases. Going all out on spending behind a dead film is similar to murdering the film and burying it up yourself.

The winning combination

Marketing when combined with interesting content can work wonders (Badlapur, Ghajini, Chennai Express, 2 States). But again it’s secondary to the content of a film. I am bored of the celebrities week after week doing the same shows and same interviews. If only the corporates that fund films today, spend less on these MBA’s (who sit in AC offices and believe in standard template promotions) and spend more on the writers and creative professionals it will work wonders for the industry.  The best films that do well are those that the audience is willing to pay for and not those that are aggressively pushed down your throat.

Read more from Kabir

• Music rights of Dilwale fetches record price, music label war heats up
• The downside of city multiplexes in India
• The downside of the Hindi Film Industry