and freelancers a couple of weeks before the release of a film, till a few years ago but everything has changed in a big way now with the influx of TV and today while the stars prefer to give one on one interview to the TV channels, the print journalists are mostly asked to come for a joint interview with the stars, to promote the films, because the media has expanded manifold and the stars do not have the time to give interview to each and every publication.

Vidya Balan was spotted in different Indian cities in a pregnant avatar just to promote her film Kahaani. This was the latest addition to the novel ideas Bollywood has started adopting of late in a desperate bid to market its films. Though a few talented filmmakers have introduced some really unique styles, there are still quite a few, who are still relying on the age-old rumor mills to market their films.

Ramgopal Varma’s publicists worked 24/7 a week before the release of his latest film Bhoot Returns to send news stories to every paper in town that the child star Alayana Sharma’s mother has filed a case against the filmmaker because the child was affected badly after she saw the film. The rumours have not helped sell tickets for the film which has sunk at the box office.

Before the release of Anurag Basu’s much-hyped KITES, rumours were high about the alleged relationship between Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori, and also about the rift between Hrithik and his wife Sussane. The rumours, however, failed to pull audiences to the cinema halls as people are now fed up of such baseless and stale strategies in Bollywood. People are now looking for some creativity, not only in films but also in their promotion.

If Machindra Chate had produced his Marathi film Chimnip Pakhre on a budget of a crore and spent nearly double of that to promote and market  it to yield good returns at the box office a few years ago, today filmmakers are using different mediums to have customized marketing strategies for their films. The makers of Luck by Chance  had started a campaign in Mumbai by branding some auto-rickshaws as ‘Auto By Chance’ and those, who spotted these autos, were given free rides anywhere in the city.

Anurag Kashyap distributed condom-shaped passes for the premiere of Dev D and multiplexes sold 12 different flavours of popcorn during the screening of Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your  Rashee, which had Priyanka appearing in 12 different roles. For 3 Idiots, Aamir got stickers pasted on the back of auto-rickshaws in Mumbai to market the film. The stickers read “Capacity: 3 Idiots Only”. The strategy was successful in creating a lot of buzz for the movie at a very low cost. So it’s not just about movie promotion, but promotion in a unique way!

Film stars flocking the sets of reality TV shows and daily soaps either as participants, hosts or judges has become quite common today. Very few makers of TV serials know how to integrate the presence of the stars by making their appearance appear seamless in their shows by grafting their presence as part of the script. For example, producer Asit Mehta shot three episodes of his popular show Tarak  Mehta  Ka Oolta Chasma  with Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin and Prachi Desai with director Rohit Mehta by making them appear in a press conference for Bol Bachchan with real life journalists like Inder Mohan Pannu, Rajesh and yours truly along with the members of the Gokuldham Society who appeared as gate crashers in the press conference.

If Salman Khan had appeared in khaki on Laagi Tujhse Laganto promote Dabangg and chosen the sets of Na Aana Iss Desh Lado to promote Body Guard, Sridevi, who is very shy and reticent as far as the media is concerned, also did not lag behind. She spent half a day at the office of Hindustan Times to interact with the staff there so that she could promote her latest film English Winglish in a big way. Sri also took time out to promote her film by shaking a leg with Madhuri Dixit in Jhalak Dikhla  Jaa. If you remember, even the great Amitabh Bachchan wasn’t an exception to the rule. To promote Ramgopal Varma’s Rann, he actually read news in a TV news channel, since he played the TV baron in the film.

Ranbir came in Afsar Bitiya, Phir Subah Hogi and Pavitra Rishta to promote Barfi because he knew a lot of women are watching woman oriented shows so that he could wean away a lot of them to come and watch him in Barfi. It helped him get eye balls for his film. Similarly, Akshay Kumar had gifted his favorite bike to a contestant in Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega before the release of Action Replay and John Abraham had lied to the contestants of MTV Roadies while promoting his film Jhootha Hi Sahi. Though, despite having unique ways of promotions, many films fail to attract the audiences.

Eyeing huge opening weekends, filmmakers are devising fresh ideas to create urgency among people to see the film during the initial weeks itself. Filmmakers are also experimenting with titles, which speak about the genre and feel of the film. When Dibankar Banerjee named his movie as Love, Sex aur Dhoka, he knew the unique title was enough to generate curiosity in the minds of people and attract them to cinema halls. Most films from the Mahesh Bhatt and Ekta Kapoor camps are based on either certain controversial people or incidents that already have a curious audience in the market.

Though a few talented filmmakers have introduced some really unique styles, there are still quite a few, who are still relying on the age-old rumor mills to market their films.

Among other ways the filmmakers are resorting to market their films is winning awards in international film festivals, thus establishing the film’s brand value before its release. A number of such awards and rave reviews had generated enough buzz about Vikramaditya Motwane’s debut film Udaan, and people were awaiting the movie’s release. Imtiaz Ali, with the idea of inclusive marketing, had asked people to vote for one of the three title options, before naming his film Jab We Met. The industry has gone techno-savvy to use social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to connect with their audiences. Today, making a great movie is not enough. It has to be accompanied by a great marketing plan to taste success at the box office.

When it comes to film promotion, Aamir Khan is considered as the most innovative brain in Bollywood. In fact, he is credited to have started the trend of unique and smart promotion techniques with Ghajini. For this blockbuster, Aamir not only himself sported a bald hairstyle but also managed to tie-up with a few multiplexes to have their staff do the same two weeks before the release. So when people went to watch Shahrukh Khan’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, they were welcomed by the staff in Ghajini look and their curiosity to watch the film was doubled. It was the most interesting and truly unique kind of marketing Bollywood had ever seen.

Despite all the new marketing gimmicks, one factor remains common in pulling the masses in: Bollywood songs. Once the soundtrack becomes a hit, it develops a certain interest among the audience and they want to watch those songs on the big screen.Back in the older days, the new songs were played on Binaca Geet Mala – a popular show on Radio Ceylon hosted by Ameen Sayani. Later, when television came to India in the ‘70’s people were hooked on to Chitrahaar every Friday and Wednesday. Even now music plays a major role in attracting people to the theatres.

Jyoti Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director, Eros International, says: “Internet viral marketing is less about how much you spend and more about how effectively you spend.” Eros, which was one of the early players to strike an alliance with Google’s Youtube, and has its own partner channel on the video sharing site that gets over 100 million views, markets its videos on websites like MSN, Rediff, AOL, Yahoo to drive the audiences to its content.”After the success of Slumdog Millionaire, the Indian film industry has gained an international outlook. So, there is no surprise that the spends are increasing on digital marketing by Bollywood,” adds Jyoti.

Bollywood has started increasing it’s spend on digital marketing. Typically, total marketing budgets of a Bollywood movie comprise 30 per cent of which 15 per cent is spent on digital marketing. This is still small when compared with Hollywood flicks which invest up to 30 per cent of its budget on digital promotions. The producers of  Kambakkht Ishq , who had spent about Rs 70 crore in the making of the film had pumped in nearly Rs 7 crore in digital marketing. Neeraj Roy, managing director and Chief Executive Officer of Hungama Digital Media is also not surprised by the increased spending. “With around 50 million Indians accessing the internet, movie marketing budgets are bound to include the online platform.”