The teaser of Salman Khan’s Tubelight was released a couple of days ago. It was aired for the television audience across the Star TV network and for the internet audience on YouTube.
The response has been mixed and it’s probably the weakest teaser of a Salman Khan film in a long time.
Teasers of event films are released to generate ’instant craze’, which teasers of films like ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ and ‘Sultan’ did get, but ‘Tubelight’ hasn’t. Even the ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ teaser had those commercial ingredients – India/Pakistan, Bajrang Bali ka bhakt, Action, Romance/Kareena and Nawazuddin for those lighter moments. ‘Tubelight’ lacks almost all of it and relies almost entirely on Salman.
This has left a section of the industry and trade wondering why a teaser was required in the first place – when it didn’t have action or those massy-elements that instantly generates hype around a film.
It could well be because the makers needed more time to get the trailer right and with less 2 months to go for the theatrical release, they wanted to put something out there for the fans and the audience.
The film has also been severely criticised across social and mainstream media for its similarities with the Hollywood film ‘Little Boy’ – even though the makers have officially credited it with ‘Story Based on the Original Film – Little Boy’ in the teaser itself.
Moving on to the more positive side of things, the response to the teaser simply does not matter. Salman Khan is too big at the moment and his films will be watched. Irrespective of the kind of response the teaser gets, audience are now saving money to watch his films during Eid.
Secondly, the mixed response to the teaser also means the makers have the opportunity to put all the negativity (Little Boy, etc) aside by the time the trailer releases in the last week of May.
And finally, the best part of the teaser seems to be Salman himself. The innocence of his character has generated curiosity and it’s not the usual Salman that we get to see during Eid.