Innovation in promoting films is becoming the name of the game in Bollywood. Blogging is the new tool. It is now no longer an exclusive method that only journalists and software geeks employ; it is fast being adopted by film stars and filmmakers to promote their movies.
For those new to
the Internet, a blog, short for web log, can be described as a sort of online diary that can be viewed by all- like web pages.
From Aamir Khan to Rani Mukherjee and even Amitabh Bachchan, they have all entered chat rooms and blog spaces to woo fans all across the globe.
"Blogs are reaching new communities, larger bases and Bollywood is one of them. Since it is a medium for communication, it is a big opportunity for entertainment," says Krishna Prasad, Head, Programming, MSN India.
Many producers are setting up full fledged websites of their movies so that they can be promoted in one go all over the world, he says.
MSN set up a blog for Aamir at the time of Mangal Pandey and again for Rang De Basanti. Blog groups are also putting up webcasts of the premiere of the movies along with the blog to lure more people.
But it is only the blogs run by famous Bollywood names which pull in surfers, say a blog by Big B or Shah Rukh Khan would get many hits but there is little hope of blogs by small time stars grabbing eyeballs.
A look at the other innovative methods used recently by Bollywood for promoting films.
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Blogging is being adopted by film stars and filmmakers to promote their movies.
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- Hum Tum: The film, starring Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee , was accompanied by unique promotional stunts - a comic strip in a popular English daily, a tie-up with a chip brand, and an appearance in the popular soap, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.
- Body beautiful Mallika Sherawat sold tickets of her latest flick Bachke Rehna Re Baba at a theatre in the national capital.
- Actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee played pranks on unsuspecting victims on popular MTV channel show Bakra to promote Bunty Aur Babli in which they play cons.
- The petite Urmila Matondkar shared her supernatural experiences on Sony TV's horror series Aahat before the release of her spine-chiller Naina.
- Stripping parties (that did not go the whole hog) were thrown at major pubs in Mumbai by the makers of Oops - a movie based on male strippers.
- The very graphic Kareena Kapoor-Shahid Kapur lip-lock, movie clips of Ashmit Patel with Riya Sen or threatening calls from underworld dons to Ram Gopal Varma are all being looked upon as attempts to get that extra mileage for their films, or in some cases, media attention to sinking careers.