Paa gears up to revive ABCL’s fortunes

From head-in-the-box teaser ads,to Auro merchandise,Paa-and-I campaign strategies,to Big B visiting schools,the promotional strategy for the film made on the theme of father-son relationship has been novel so far.

And if the news of the role reversal—Abhishek plays Amitabh’s paa in the movie—was not enough,the initial teasers were mind blowing. The first teasers showed a bald head inside a cardboard box. That was enough to make people sit up and take notice. Then came the television promos,which revealed the main crux of the film. Since then,there’s been no stopping for the Paa and Auro (character played by Amitabh).

Made on a small budget of Rs 16 crore,the movie revolves around the father-son duo of Abhishek and Amitabh,with the latter playing the role of a 13-year-old boy with a rare genetic disease called ‘progeria’ that causes accelerated ageing. This film has already won a lot of praise and has created a strong buzz across the country with its unusual theme and look.

Says director R Balakrishnan,“The idea of Paa came at the time when Cheeni Kum was still under production. I wanted to cast the Bachchans together,and felt that they would give full justice to the subject. Later,I told them that their roles would be reversed in the film,where Amitabh would play the role of the son (Auro) who’s suffering from progeria,while Abhishek would be the supporting father. Since it’s a real story,they found the idea interesting and agreed.”

The look of Auro was first revealed by Big B in his blog,which increased curiosity among viewers. “We had to do a lot of research before the film could be made. We saw various videos,documentaries,consulted various doctors and did research on how the looks are affected due this disease. We realised that a lot of hard work would go into getting the right look for Auro in order to convince the audiences. Our main focus was to remove the actual look of Amitabh and portray him as Auro suffering from progeria. Bringing out the bald look of Amitabh and his make-up was a challenging task for us,” he adds.

Amitabh’s his make-up,sources say,cost 10% of the total film’s budget. No wonder then the actor is said have taken four hours to put it on and another two to take it off!

After the success of Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par,which was based on a child suffering from dyslexia,trade analysts are positive about Paa doing well at the box office with its unusual storyline.

While the movie is slated for release on December 4,the director has already pulled up his socks to promote Paa in a huge way in malls and multiplexes. Alok Tandon,CEO,Inox said,“Going by the initial promos,it’s a film that will appeal to a cross section of people. To start with,Inox will play a slide of Amitabh Bachchan’s character threatening to tell his Paa if patrons don’t switch off their mobile phones. We have a nationwide consumer contest where patrons are encouraged to write in on what they would do if they were Paa for a day. We are also creating an exclusive food combo for father-son duos,where we are giving out movie merchandise with the combos. We think all of this will go a long way in driving anticipation for the film.”

According to Maneesh Mathur COO,P9 Integrated,a film marketing company,the overall marketing of the film has been very attractive. “The director bought spots during the fifth and sixth ODI India-Australia series. This is a good strategy This is a good strategy as cricket is one of the main areas to capturing the entire nation. Made on a small budget,the film is expected to spend 15% on its promotional activities.”

Prior to the theatrical release of the film,AB Corp Ltd & Saraswati Creations in association with BIG Pictures,is launching an innovative marketing strategy called ‘Paa and I’ on Children’s Day.