The teaser tactics

Few things in the Indian experience compare to the collective elation of watching Shah Rukh Khan emerge out of smoke with his trademark walk. But gone are the days when you would have to buy a ticket to the theatre repeatedly to watch your favourite hero. In fact, you don’t even have to wait till the film releases to get a taste of what its essence is going to be! With minute long teasers, embellished trailers complete with their own launches and poster releases and city wide campaigns, the hype surrounding the release of films like Raees, Dilwale, Thanga Magan, Charlie and Bajirao Mastani are at an all time high in the place where it matters most — social media.

It’s not just good ol’ Bollywood that has amped its pre-release preview game. Starring Dulquer Salmaan and with 129,359 likes on its busy Facebook page, the Malayalam film Charlie has been generating quite the buzz online before its release. It’s Tamil counterpart Thanga Magan has also amassed quite the support on Twitter and Facebook. Amrita Dutta, a film enthusiast and creative professional, says, “I am a huge fan of Dhanush and I will watch anything that has Dhanush in it! Ever since I saw the trailer and heard the songs, I have been eagerly waiting for Thanga Magan. I am as excited about it as I am about Bajirao Mastani — both films have strong female duos and a powerful actor as a hero.”

The frenzy surrounding the teasers and trailers (and sometimes the teasers of trailers!) is not particularly a new one, yet with stars attending events that have grown in prominence — like trailer and song launches — the curiosity of a prospective filmgoer is constantly hiked prior to its release. Bengaluru’s first Hindi feature film-maker Saad Khan is now in Mumbai. He says, “Because marketing is more important than making a movie these days, the trailers too seem to have come of age. I recently watched the trailer of Raees and it blew me away — in the way that it has been arranged, it is very impressive. On the other hand, the Dilwale trailer is a nonsensical montage of images and cannot be called a trailer at all! I can relate to the effect a public event like a trailer launch might have because the other day, I was driving past the venue releasing the trailer of Dilwale and the sheer number of people gathered to watch Shah Rukh arrive was astounding. We are a nation that makes commercial movies for the masses, so the more things to engage with, the better.”

With a very popular trailer that has seen over five million views on Facebook, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s grand celebration of Bajirao Mastani boasts of a finely crafted series of 30-foot high poster launched by the actors and a star-studded dramatic trailer release. Zulfiqar Khan, who is business head of ErosNow, says of their engagement strategy, “These days, the trailer is as anticipated as a film. Earlier the film used to come shortly after the trailer but now, we have a release that is six weeks before the release date. There is a lot of consumer and audience engagement now and the level of discussion and talk that we have seen on Facebook and Twitter has really exceeded expectations.”