Ra.One, Marketing and Hysteria

Marketing is that one technique that can either make you or destroy you! Ra.One can be a very good example for the same. The movie was what it was. Some may call it a complete dud while the SRK fanatics still drool. But what made the movie work for me is its marketing. Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I very clearly saw all the intense and well planned marketing Eros International, Red Chillies and SRK had been doing so far.

They key factor ensuring a movie’s success is marketing and Ra.One took very good care of that. Their marketing tie-up went up to almost 50 crores which included approximately 15 crores for online production. The movie changed the face of marketing in India and created new records for Bollywood.

Looks like King Khan just didn’t want anything to go wrong this time. And nothing really went wrong except that Ra.One did not please the critics and the audience (here, I am referring to the audience who likes good cinema and not SRK fanatics).

It’s safe to say that SRK shouldn’t try these experiments especially now that his “awe-inspiring” career graph is not pointing upwards. At this time, he has only two safe options. He should either take a grand retirement or just stick to movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, K3G, etc. that’s where people actually like him. Anything beyond that fails miserably.

Also, the kind of audience that watches Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan is a tad different. Since everyone is comparing Ra.One with Bodyguard, why should I stay behind? The point is Salman Khan is the hero of the masses. But when we talk about the Badshah, the audience that watches him is a bit on the upper side. You will not see SRK become play the role of a Bodyguard in any film. That is something Salman does and is appreciated for it. But when we talk about Shahrukh, his audience is different and has expectations. Which proves why the audience was disappointed with Ra.One. We all like the romantic Shahrukh. But the superhero Sharukh, not so much.

Coming back to the marketing aspect, the hotch-potch entertainment by King Khan is a huge marketing success. The 5-day weekend collection is anticipated to be around a hundred crore, as rivalled to Bodyguard’s 82 crore.

But one should not miss the wood for the trees. It is not the geeky tale or Akon’s Chammak Challo item numbers or the Shahrukh magic that made the movie. It is all that and much more. The selling is the secret of its success.

The two-year project had a marketing window of 10 months starting January 2011, wherein the release of the music, the gaming and merchandise, and Shah Rukh’s road shows followed a detailed time-table. For gaming, the producers tied up with Sony. Similarly, they had a tie-up with YouTube for promoting trailers. And if that’s not enough then they teamed up up with as many as 25 brands ranging from Videocon, Western Union and Star TV to Cinthol and Gitanjali Gems.

Seven months before its release, SRK kicked off the promotions with a 10-second trailer during the World Cup semi-final match between India and Australia, while Ra.One's first look was revealed by the star on his Twitter page on January 2011 along with an ad in a leading daily.

According to brand whizzes, the marketing blitzkrieg for Ra.One is a classic case of integrating a film into every aspect of people's lives. For instance, be it clothing, automobiles, games, sports, merchandising, there will be a part of the film involved.

Bodyguard. Needn’t I say more?

Few things I would advise you to carry along if you are planning to go for this movie:

•         Rotten Tomatoes
•          Rotten eggs
•         Shoes, chappal, etc.

Well, these are just a few suggestions. You can come up with your new innovative ideas to display your anger and frustration. I am too lazy to rack my brains for that purpose. But if you are the cool temperament types, you know the lazy ones (like me) then just carry a blanket. That’d be it. Instead of massacring your time and energy yelling to express your irritation, just wrap the blanket and go off to sleep. That’s exactly what I did. After 20 minutes, the peeps around me could hear my loud snores.

Nothing and I’m very serious here, NOTHING about the movie was good or new. Since I was napping throughout, my friend who is a die-hard Salman fan literally took the pain to tell me the story. Imagine my relief. Thank goodness I dozed. But then again, you can’t expect logic, meaning, class, humane or anything realistic of any Salman flick. As far as Kareena Kapoor is considered, she could pull off that kind of role even if she was sleepwalking.

There is this buzz that this could have been Salman’s hat trick. After Wanted and Dabanng. But then wasn’t it? Well for me it was. All three of them were futile. And all three of them were superbly effective in giving me an abysmal headache. I swear I’m not making this up but I actually got temperature after watching Dabanng.

And what’s with this craze of Salman taking off his shirt and boasting his body? Believe me; I like it more when Taylor Lautner removes his shirt to show his 8 pack *drools*. Now don’t you judge me by this. I don’t like Twilight. But I like Taylor Lautner. Yes, I do.

Anyway, coming back to Bodyguard, I have to mention this. I saw Not-So-Lovely Singh (read: Salman Khan) do this move in some song where he is making his muscles do the dancing. No Sallu, even your muscles can’t dance. My vote still goes to Pappu.

To conclude, The Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan Starrer Bodyguard is a big dud. My advice would be: Don’t go for this. Don’t waste your bucks on this one. Rather sleep. Your dreams won’t be as boring as this is. In the Bodyguard style - ‘Mujphe ek ehsaan karna, ke aisi aur koi movies mat banana.’

P.S. – This is my personal opinion. You may disagree to it. But that will still not make Bodyguard a “good’ movie.