Award-winning filmmaker Sudevan seems to be offering innovative lessons on marketing movies made on a shoe-string budget. He explored the potential of releasing a simple behind-the-scenes video on YouTube to popularize his film, Crime No. 89, before it reached the theatres of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation. The video shows Sudevan and friends chalking out their marketing plans on a paper, sitting in a dimly-lit room. They draw up several plans to create interest about the movie but finally end up deciding that mouth-to-mouth publicity is the best option, as they do not have much to invest in posters or advertising in print and visual media.
The ‘new gen’ madness
Even seasoned filmmakers who publicly lambast the so-called ‘new gen’ themes seem to be running behind it on the sly.
No wonder, a wannabe screenplay writer had the shock of his life when one such filmmaker recently asked him to write ‘new generation’ dialogues for his forthcoming movie. The director, who had began his career as a scriptwriter, had no doubt that the storyline would appeal to the new generation, but needed the support of a youngster to churn out fitting dialogues.
Forget the stances they take in public, but more and more filmmakers seem to be rummaging for scripts, which they believe could instantaneously connect with the young audience.
The runaway success of G. Prajith’s Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Alphonse Puthran’s Premam seem to have opened the floodgates to story ideas and one-liners centred on the hottest star in tinsel town, Nivin Pauly. A young filmmaker told Tinsel Town that a producer had asked him to re-write his script for a thriller to tap the current box-office potential of Nivin Pauly.
The number of producers who look for innovative and exciting screenplays, without bothering about who the lead actor is, seems to be dwindling.
Listin Stephen produced the spoof Chirakodinja Kinakkal despite fears whether mocking all clichés in Mollywood would find all-round acceptance.
But he had faith in the director and the script, and that paid off to certain extent. Producers admitted that this mad rush to mimic successful movies always existed in Malayalam and will continue to exist till a series of such movies tank at the box-office.
G. Krishnakumar
