Bollywood’s marketing strategy has evolved with time. This is evident with the way the makers are coming up with new ideas to grab eyeballs and sell tickets. For the longest time, it was all organic but in recent times, it has entered the ‘Sab ganda hai par dhanda hai’ route. Now, the makers are willing to go to any lengths to ensure that the tickets are sold by hook or by crook. Bollywood Hungama, in this two part hard-hitting article, exposes the harmful models adopted by the industry that do more harm than good.
1. Corporate Bookings
This controversial term became mainstream last year and led to some of the biggest fan wars on social media. It simply means inorganic ticket bookings made by brands because of their association with the film or its lead actor. One brand usually books thousands of tickets across the country and when several brands do the same, it automatically leads to an increase in collections.
Corporate bookings have certain types. A popular actor, for instance, asks the brands that he endorses, to buy the tickets. Another actor with a huge fan following books tickets and deducts the amount spent on it against his remuneration. Then there are films in which several brands have a tie-up. These brands will be asked to show support by bulk booking of tickets.
Some may argue that this is an age-old practice and that even in the past, makers usually booked some tickets themselves that were distributed to partners and close family and friends. But corporate booking doesn’t imply buying 500 to 1000 tickets. The number goes up exponentially and it can hike the collection of a film by a crore or two, or even more. In some cases, it has led to embarrassment as brands openly claimed on social media that they are giving free tickets to an upcoming film. As expected, the rival fan clubs lap it up and have a field day.
For a few films, corporate bookings were just not needed and the hype was already high. Yet, they took the plunge, fearing that their film wasn’t ‘hot’ enough. It proved how filmmakers themselves are not aware of the buzz around their films.
An actor whose film released this year called up his producer to buy tickets worth Rs. 2 crores and adjust it against his balance remuneration when the advance booking trends made it clear that the opening would not be as per his expectations and the producer obliged happily.
2. Inflated box office collections
Corporate bookings are one way to inflate box office figures. In many cases, the makers claim that their film has done a certain number. It doesn’t match the data available from different trade experts and on ground.
This is usually done for the first day or first weekend for multiple reasons. Firstly, it helps them if their collections seem respectable for perception reasons. Secondly, actors often push producers to disseminate inflated opening day figures so that they can prove that they have an impressive track record. The endorsement deals of actors are measured against his or her pull at the box office. Better numbers in cinemas would mean better deals and this results in this unhealthy practice.
A film, which was released this year, inflated the first day box office collections by more than 25%. The makers had to do so as the digital deals were linked to the collections.
Trade analyst Atul Mohan noted, “Digital platforms are quite smart and our industry doesn’t realize that. They can’t be fooled by the figures floated by the makers.”
Trade analyst Amod Mehra laughed, “Ours is the only country in the world where we have no way of finding what the actual box office figures are.”
He continued, “During the Covid period, OTT platforms were blindly buying films at unheard-of prices. But things changed thereafter. A reputed filmmaker made a film that did average business but he claimed that it collected more than Rs. 100 crores. The streaming giant, meanwhile, declined to offer him the money promised as his film underperformed. The director insisted that his film was a success. To which they asked him, ‘If your film indeed made Rs. 100 crores, you must have paid GST accordingly. Please show us the GST receipt of the same and we’ll pay you Rs. 40 crores as promised’. As expected, the filmmaker was left tongue tied.”
3. Self-buying of tickets
In order to increase box office collections, many producers indulge in self-buying of tickets. On the booking website, the show might seem full or 90% sold out. But if you happen to be in the audi, you’ll barely find any patrons inside. Funnily, the ones behind this practice should ideally buy a certain number of tickets for all shows so that a layman might assume that the film is actually getting a steady crowd. Instead, the makers buy tickets for only some shows. As a result, a 7:00 pm show, for instance, would be ‘sold out’ while the 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm of the same film would be running with hardly any bookings. As expected, anyone can make out what’s happening.
Last year, the producers behind a major film went one step ahead and created fake inventory. On ticketing websites, netizens were shocked to see sold-out 6:00 am and 7:00 am shows. Naturally, questions arose as to how come the film is having house-full shows so early in the morning while the rest of the shows are not even 5% full. The rival fan clubs visited the theatres early in the morning and shot videos of these properties being shut down, which exposed that these shows existed only on paper. The multiplexes were too happy with this strategy as they earned money for shows which never took place and they didn’t even have to spend operating costs for it. The producers, meanwhile, became a laughing stock.
4. Paid Reviews
Even the common man is aware of this concept and doesn’t need much explanation. However, this game has been upgraded in the last few years. The first-day-first-show videos have become quite popular and it is considered to be powerful enough to make or break a film. Most of these videos are shot in certain cinemas in Mumbai. Hence, the producers have now started planting his or her own people in these theatres on the day of release. They claim to have just exited after watching the film and rave about it extensively. Some of them are bad actors and make over-the-top statements in favour of the film, prompting some funny netizens to reply to such videos with Akshay Kumar’s legendary ’50 rupaye kaat overacting ka’ meme.
Coming back to paid reviews, there are ‘critics’ who don’t even want money. They are just happy to see their stars being displayed on the posters. Some of them, believe it or not, don’t even review the film! They simply inform the producers about their rating, at times without even seeing the movie. They then brag about it on social media about their ‘fame’ and even utilize it to further their primary business interest.
A film, which released recently opened with disastrous box office figures on Day 1. The producer who anticipated the opening, informed the reviewers via his PR agency to ensure that they gave 4 or 4.5 stars. An ad was also published in the leading daily highlighting the fake reviews. Almost all reviewers barring some 3 to 4 obliged the producer in return for certain favours.
But this practice doesn’t begin and end with paid reviews. Some of these journalists are paid not just for reviews but also to hype the film before release and create a perception that it’s a hot-selling product. In the last few years, a term has been coined for such ‘experts’ – Samosa critics. They literally sell their souls for either an interview or press show with free popcorn, cola and of course samosa. At times, they are also content with complimentary tickets for themselves and their family members.
This is still not that big a problem; a producer, after all, might argue that he needs to do so to save his film. The issue arises when these so-called critics start running an extortion racket. They have openly called up producers or hinted to them that if they are not paid, they’ll severely damage their film. 2 years ago, they went all out to slam two films made by a reputed production house. Though both these films got thumbs down from most moviegoers, many rightly pointed out why these ‘critics’ weren’t so harsh for similar bad films that were released around the same time. Last month, they attacked a Pan-India film.
A veteran trade analyst remarked, “If the makers of this Pan-India film pay them now, they’ll take a U-turn, delete all their tweets and start praising it. It's 8:00 pm right now. Inke saamne haddi phek do aur yeh kahenge ki subah ke aanth baje hai!”
Trade analyst Atul Mohan, who coined the word ‘Samosa critics’, thundered, “This is wrong and against journalistic ethics. You may write a negative review. But you can’t run down the film on a daily basis just because they didn’t pay you. I call this ‘Twitter terrorism’.”
He also remarked, “Is there any publication that they are associated with? Do they run any trade websites or magazines? How are they calling themselves ‘trade analyst’?”
The question remains – Do these tactics help? Many films endorsed by this lot have flopped miserably. Yet, why does this practice continue? As one industry insider remarked, “These are called momentum journalists. They're not influencing decisions, they influence momentum.”
Atul Mohan continued, “Look at the comments mentioning ‘samosa’ and ‘samosa critic’ under their tweets. The producers should take note of it. If you get your film promoted by them, the audience might not take your product seriously.”
A few bad films have been saved through this strategy. For instance, a female-centric film which released last year didn’t enjoy an overall good word of mouth. But the paid reviews and package given to the ‘critics’ helped create a perception that the film is well-made and progressive. Many believe that this film would have been massively slammed without this paid support.
Thankfully, the industry is slowly waking up to this menace. Recently, Vidyut Jammwal, during the release of his film Crakk hit back at one such ‘journalist’, Sumit Kadel, and the tweet went viral. He wrote, “Asking for bribe is a crime ,and giving one is a crime too!!”My crime “is not giving??? #sumitkadel…so everytime you praise someone -we know the criminal..”
Asking for bribe is a crime ,and giving one is a crime too!!”My crime “is not giving??? #sumitkadel…so everytime you praise someone -we know the criminal.. pic.twitter.com/gSkiPlwf4S — Vidyut Jammwal (@VidyutJammwal) February 26, 2024
Also, the fraternity has already burnt their fingers by being too friendly with two such individuals who later became troublemakers – one started as an actor whose claim to fame is a flop film; an embarrassment in the name of cinema. The other claims to be an ‘overseas censor member’. It was shameful to see how some of the biggest actors responded positively to them. Both have now gone out of hand and are harming this very industry that endorsed them.
The ‘critics’ in question are sure to do the same. The trade expert said, “Aap saanp ko doodh pila rahe ho. Yeh aap hi ko dasenge ek din”. Until then, they will continue to receive patronage and ‘Thank you for your support’ messages from reputed actors and filmmakers.
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