Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
The ‘one star, one poster’ strategy
Posters are the first point of contact every viewer has with any film, be it a big-budget spectacle, or a small indie project. A good poster should be able to tease the audience, and at the same time be able to keep the buzz going. It’s easy to see why multi-starrers (Baadshaho) would release separate posters for each character, but films with fewer characters (Padmavati, Ittefaq, and Parmanu), are doing exactly the same thing. Analysing the trend, trade expert Atul Mohan says that the Internet helps filmmakers to exploit the fan following of each leading cast member. “In the age of social media, filmmakers get to sustain the buzz by focussing on different actors. They can easily keep [each star’s] fans occupied, [by giving fans] something every few days till the movie is finally released.” Milan Luthria, director of Baadshaho, has a similar view. “You want to tease the audience, and play with their curiosity,” he says. “After they’ve seen Ajay Devgn wearing a bandana, they want to see what’d be special about Emraan Hashmi’s poster. One has to look for various devices to engage the viewers.” Mohan cites another factor: “Filmmakers have to satisfy the ego of each star, because they [all] want equal suspense for their characters.” Viewers’ brains, fed on endless social media content, are wired differently these days, and filmmakers have to keep up. Rahul Nanda, the man behind posters for films such as Ittefaq, Jab Harry Met Sejal, and Bareilly Ki Barfi, says, “Today, social media users need different things to consume. [Separate posters] make it more interesting.”