Tease Me, Tease Me

8216;Six stories. One ending8217;.8216;You are not alone8217;.8216;He has arrived in a city where everybody wants him dead!8217; Line...

8216;Six stories. One ending8217;.
8216;You are not alone8217;.
8216;He has arrived in a city where everybody wants him dead!8217;

Lines you are more likely to associate with paperback thrillers than Hindi films. But Bollywood8217;s new releases, which so far relied heavily on song-and-dance publicity sequences, are now using teasers to attract viewers. So the promos of Ramgopal Varma8217;s Darna Mana Hai are sans its multi-star cast and the 8216;Six stories8230;8217; tagline ran for a few days before the one with Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Shilpa Shetty and others was released.

The initial promos of Rakesh Roshan8217;s Koi8230; Mil Gaya also showed Hrithik Roshan briefly, followed by a view of the earth from space and the 8216;You are not alone8217; catchline. It was only later that Hrithik, Preity Zinta and Rekha, and the title song, were shown.

8216;8216;Teasers are 10-15 seconds long, and aired for around a week before being replaced with a detailed promo,8217;8217; says Suleman Mobhani of Indiafm, a film publicity company. 8216;8216;They work well for thrillers and suspense films, where the idea is big,8217;8217; adds Sanjay Bhutiani, head of Leo Entertainment. Bhutiani, who has created campaigns for Darna8230; and Jism, insists that a teaser is different from a build-up promo. 8216;8216;The former has to really tease people. The initial promos of Darna8230; didn8217;t even reveal the cast or crew,8217;8217; he says. Instead, you saw images of a palm with five fingers and a thumb, a blown-out candle with six wicks, a clock with six hands and a lock with six keyholes.

8216;8216;The trick is to get you intrigued,8217;8217; says Dhritish Ghoshal of ad agency Marching Ants. Agrees Soumitra Ranade, the director of Jajantaram Mamantaram J2M2. 8216;8216;You can8217;t give away your aces. But it8217;s important to stand out among the crowd,8217;8217; he says. J2M2 was initially publicised through 10-second TV spots, which just showed some special effects. 8216;8216;They were so brief that viewers were left asking for more. After a week, we extended the duration to 20 seconds and then to 30 seconds in the third week. Extremely short promos aired for a long time may get irritating,8217;8217; adds Ranade.

Film-makers are now more concerned about how promos showcase their films. Varma, the producer of Darna8230; and director of Bhoot 8212; also promoted through slick horror trailers 8212; is one of them. 8216;8216;The promos should impress and excite you, but at the same time, they should not lie about the film,8217;8217; he says, adding, 8216;8216;With Darna8230; , people will wonder how six stories can have one ending. With the Bhoot promos, I wanted to prepare viewers for the film.8217;8217;

Moviemakers are also more willing to shift away from the earlier practice of plastering the stars8217; faces all over. Like the promos of the Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee-starrer Calcutta Mail. The slick, sepia-toned TV spots showed a fleeting shot of Kapoor, followed by a speeding train and the 8216;He has arrived8230;8217; tagline. Mobhani also mentions Kucch To Hai, starring Tusshar Kapoor and Esha Deol, released early this year. 8216;This winter8230; a chill will run down your spine,8217; said the initial promos, which just showed the actors8217; backs.

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However, the song-dance promos will continue. 8216;8216;Music companies are closely involved in promoting films. So they want the music to be highlighted,8217;8217; says Namit Malhotra of production house Prime Focus, which was involved in creating promos of films like Koi8230; Mil Gaya, Qayamat, and Khushi. Bhutiani disagrees: 8216;8216;Music revenues have fallen. You8217;ll see more content-driven promotion now.8217;8217; Anything to make the viewer content.