Sealing the deal

Post & Telegraph department gets into a first of its kind marketing tie-up with a film.

In a historic move, the Post & Telegraph department of the Government of India has for the first time entered into a marketing tie-up with a film, Road To Sangam, scheduled for release on January 29. Written and directed by Amit Rai, the film features Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Tushar Gandhi.

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The idea for the film was sparked off by a BBC documentary. Weaving fact with fiction, Rai came up with a story that revolved around the discovery of an urn containing the Mahatma’s ashes in a vault of a nationalised bank in 2000.

“Given its message of national integration and the fact that the now-forgotten postcard plays an integral role in the film, we decided to approach the P & T department. Our initial efforts came to naught. Then, on December 15, 2009, we landed at the head office in Delhi and set up a screening for December 24,” says the film’s producer Amit Chheda.

“On January 1, they agreed to a marketing tie-up that includes promoting the film with ads in print and electronic media and posters put up at post-offices across the country,” he adds.

The department has also agreed to give the film a special cover and designs for the specially stamped envelope based on the film’s posters have been dispatched to Delhi for approval. “If we can lock on a design soon, the envelope could be out by the end of the month,” says Chheda.