Promo-shunned

The money-conscious Bhatt Bros — Mahesh and Mukesh — were the first to take that route, drastically cutting down on promotional tours for Khamoshiyan and Mr X. Now for Piku, MSM Motion Pictures has also decided to drastically do away with city tours.

Serious cost-cutting measures are being considered and implemented in Bollywood to minimise the losses incurred by flops. Keeping in mind the rapidly falling profits, several production houses have decided to cut down on the budget for marketing and promotion.

Paid space in newspapers for production-sponsored interviews were the first casualty of the new diktats. Now we hear many  production houses have decided to do away with the ritual of taking stars on extensive city tours.
Commenting on this move to economise, Mumbai film exhibitor Anil Thadani says, “Rigorous city tours to promote films is a monotonous exercise. Producers need to think out-of-the-box to promote their films.”

Anil feels the film’s first look seals its fate. “A good trailer and  correct vibes given by the trailer are enough for audiences to decide if they want to watch a film or not.”

Adds box office analyst Atul Mohan, “City tours are good PR for stars at the producers’ expense.I don’t recall a single film which benefited from this type of publicity. City tours  only add to the marketing expenses and take up the stars’ valuable time. When stars visit a city to promote a film, fans discuss stars, not the film. Marketing cannot be that one glove which fits all hands. Every film has its own requirements.”