ROCKET SINGH: Marketing strategy of the year

Can ROCKET SINGH: SALESMAN OF THE YEAR be considered as the point of disruption for the Hindi cinema for the year 2009? Well, the premise is being postulated owing to the fact that though Yash Raj films is releasing it, and inspite of whose who of the film world in the form of Shimit Amin, Jaideep Sahni and above all Ranbir Kapoor who has given two of the biggest films of the year AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI and WAKE UP SID being associated with ROCKET SINGH, the film has been really keeping low profile in terms of selling it as a marketing proposition is concerned.

ROCKET SINGH: SALESMAN OF THE YEAR plans to return to the old era of movie viewing where movies picked up the momentum as the week advanced into weeks based on word of mouth publicity, and brings the audience back into the cinema halls without any bombardments in the form of marketing devices. It is not at all backing on the first weekend footfalls to rev up the collections. From this perspective it indeed is a step backward into the world of marketing of films where the marketing wizards did not decide the promotion of the films, but it was the audience which set the course of the film.

If one were to look into the oeuvre of the past of the duo of Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni, this fact indeed would emerge as a recurring motif. No amount of publicity was done for the last film of the duo CHAK DE INDIA, but it broke box office records and also deconstructed Shah Rukh Khan for the world, pealed away from his gloss and suave image to a rugged individual who lives and dies for the country. Shimit Amin in fact had not resorted to any marketing ploy for his first film AB TAK CHAPPAN as well.

Back of the envelope calculation would also have made sense to let ROCKET SINGH: SALESMAN OF THE YEAR talk about itself as the amount of money spent on pre-publicity these days is so phenomenal that a small budget movie can roll in with that amount. Coupled with it is also the fact that earlier offering from Yash Raj Banner could not score a honeymoon with the audience during the current year, it indeed seems to be a prudent decision.

If ROCKET SINGH: SALESMAN OF THE YEAR breaks the dependence of marketing for a film to carry through, it would indeed bring in the golden era of Hindi cinema once again.

(Glamsham)