Pitching Bollywood films during the World Cup

The World Cup craze may have put the bada purdah out of gear, but Bollywood is not sitting idle either. Getting innovative, film-makers are now using cricket mania to their advantage to promote their films.

Film 7Khoon Maaf released just before the World Cup, and it did average business. Now the production house of the movie is gearing to release its next project, an Akshay Kumar-Sonam Kapoor starrer. For this a slew of promotional activities centered around cricket are being planned, reveals an insider. CEO Siddharth Roy Kapoor had earlier said, “It’s not like people watch a match 24x7. People still want to watch movies. If a good movie is playing, people will go, irrespective of World Cup or any other tournament.”

Trade analyst Amod Mehra is all for film promotion with cricket as the platform. “Cricket is the biggest craze in the country after films. If anybody can equal actor Shah Rukh Khan, then it’s cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. And World Cup matches are widely telecast, which ensures maximum eyeballs. It’s but obvious that people will want to cash in on it.”

A slew of films, not scheduled to release anytime soon, are already cashing in on the cricket mania. Film-maker Sajid Khan’s Housefull 2, which will release in 2012, already has an ad with its lead actors — Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, John Abraham — cheering for the men in blue.

Film Dum Maaro Dum, which will release next month, recently launched its music during the India- South Africa match in Nagpur stadium. Present at the stadium to launch the music were the lead stars of the film, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, and Deepika Padukone, who has done a steamy item number in the film. It was to their advantage that Li’l Master Tendulkar scored yet another century at the same match.

Shah Rukh Khan’s mega budget film, RA.One (to release on October 26) is the latest to unveil its first look, having done so during the first quarterfinals of the 2011 Cricket World Cup.