Widespread the contours of your Movie Marketing Story

Recently Pahlaj Nihalani, the saffron brigade head of the CBFC was telling some journalists that producers and directors are using the Film Certification Board as a way of publicizing their movies and their motives are to deliberately insert content in their movie that will go against the norms of the Board and then create a ruckus in media through the Freedom of Expression garb.
We have seen popular films like 3 Idiots, PK and many others being in news through either some silly copyright issues or by allegedly hurting some religious sentiments; the explanation of which might be the most foolish thing we’ve ever heard.
The question to be asked is, although I am not sure to whom these questions are to be fired at — Are all these events ‘real’ and actually do take place due to the problems we often read in the newspapers country like India has — like intolerance to religious sentiments, lack of education and open perspective or are these events ‘publicity’ events manifested to promote and sell the heavily invested piece of art?
What are the boundaries to marketing film in India and what are the exact ways? Release of Poster, First Teaser, Second Teaser, First Song, Second Song, First Trailer, Second Trailer and the list goes on…
Events studded with star appearances at colleges, shopping malls, reality shows, daily soaps, Radio shows. There’s a Digital Angle catering to Mobile Screens, Computer Screens and Tablet Screens through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and what not. Owned Media, Earned Media, Paid Media and all that content overflow to make your piece viral and get people to come to theatres and get the producers a good night sleep.
Dangal and Baahubali — the International Khiladi
When the doors of perception open and you get the larger picture a realization strikes — the success comes from the story, not only the story of your protagonist battling the crisis to bring a resolution but your marketing story — that goes along in line with the run of the film at the Box-office. It’s the lengthy and difficult process but it surely brings success unthinkable.
There haven’t been films in the past in the Indian Film Industry that have enjoyed the kind of run Dangal and Baahubali have experienced, not only in Indian markets but more importantly in the international markets.
Dangal, a big release in China of the hugely popular actor Aamir Khan has crossed $190 million in box office revenue and is expected to touch $300 million by the end of its run in China alone. In June 2017, Dangal’s worldwide gross theatrical total past the 2,000 crore mark ($307 million) and became the first film to reach this magic total.
Dangal together with the epic, CGI driven action-fantasy film Baahubali have pioneered new ground for Indian Cinema on the international stage. Finally, it seems the Indian film industry has taken evolutionary advance in creating movies that are capable of delighting foreign movie lovers with stories that are uniquely Indian but have a powerful universal appeal.
Baahubali showed that India can create blockbuster franchises at par with Hollywood and proved that there are no limits to what an Indian movie can achieve, both in visual scope and emotional impact, given the right creative, technical and financial resources. Dangal on the other hand, has become the first Indian film to earn vastly more in a non-Indian territory — the People’s Republic of China — than at home. It has made the industry realize a fascinating reality — Indian films needn’t be made only for Indians.
Baahubali embarked on the distribution, marketing, ultra-wide theatrical release, massive TV & digital advertising campaigns and multi-pronged aftermarket businesses across TV, digital, books, games and Visual Reality (VR) for its success whereas Dangal became a block buster in overseas through its master class story-telling which was engaging and socially relevant especially in a country like China. Stories about girls and women succeeding in a man’s world, themes of parental love and sacrifice have consistently found an enthusiastic home in China and has always hit an emotional nerve. Baahubali is all set to be released in Taiwan, China, Japan and Korean markets and the expectations of revenue generations are high more than ever.
So now will the patterns change? Will it shift from the short-sighted and confusing tricks of promotion to a lengthy but masterful marketing story? There are innumerable things apart from just star-power to make a film successful in both national and international markets. The film Tubelight’s failure at the Box-office has left distributors gasping as the film is definitely not going to make profitable money for them even after relying on a platinum brand — Salman Khan.
There are films to come that will set standards in the industry for sure if they learn from what the the predecessors like Baahubali and Dangal have done. It’ll be right to leave with two names — Robot 2.0 and The Thugs of Hindostan. Wait & Watch.

