THURSDAY night FEVER

Not that the opening night of a Hindi film wasn’t a grand, showy affair in the good old days. The theatre of choice, usually Mumbai’s then-glamorous twins, Liberty or Metro, would be bedecked with fairy lights and marigolds. A handful of specially invited magazine photographers would take up position as a multitude of movie-crazy fans waited patiently for Dilipsaab, Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan to emerge from their cars. For all the razzmatazz, the focus was essentially on the aam janta—and the film.
And then, the glitzy Bollywood premiere, barring stray exceptions, dropped out of the frame for what seemed like an eternity.

Fast-forward to 2007. Thursday nights have evolved. The south Mumbai cinema halls have fallen out of line. Suburban multiplexes have taken centrestage. It isn’t only the stars of the film being premiered that turn up. Most of tinseltown descends on the venue. And the red carpet—the real thing—turns into a veritable fashion ramp with every photographer in the city taking quasi-paparazzi shots of starlets and wannabes. Each high-heeled strut, gleaming cleavage, air kiss and bear hug (all for the photographers’ entertainment only) is captured. Welcome to the new page-three party.

Indeed, premiere bashes are back in fashion. The bigger the better. In these times of brazen Hollywood-aping, Bollywood premieres have acquired an unprecedented lavishness and have become a marketing blitzkrieg. So it isn’t surprising when production behemoth UTV makes it a point to have an awe-invoking premiere of each release. Or that multiplex biggies like Fame and Cinemax go many extra miles to host them. “In the 80s and 90s, only big budget releases or Amitabh Bachchan movies enjoyed such openings,” says Preeti Puri, corporate communications head for UTV. “Now premieres are great marketing drives to draw in the audiences.”

Big stars often give moderate premieres a miss unless they themselves, or their filmi buddies, are in the film. Some superstitious stars, like Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, don’t attend the premieres of their own films. But wannabe stars and television actors are a permanent fixture, thanks to the lure of flashbulbs (and not the quality of the film, in most cases). A case in point is Mika, known more for his publicity-seeking stolen kiss of Rakhi Sawant than for his singing talents. The singer arrived at the premiere of the new Pirates of the Caribbean with three burly bodyguards and obliged the lensmen present. Once the screening began, he slunk away.

At the same do, Shekhar Suman walked in, his new dolphin-bare chest peering out of his diaphanous pink shirt. The hacks around were busy quizzing another ‘celebrity’ present and didn’t initially notice him. He slowed his pace, waited for his chance and cast a cultivated nonchalant glance around. As soon as one TV journalist spotted him, several trained their cameras on him. Then he continued talking to them until long after the screening had begun.

As page-three celebrities increasingly invade film premieres—sometimes these events number as many as five a week—the movie tends to take a backseat. But nobody seems to mind. Multiplexes are able to sustain the buzz, celebrities make a splash and the media gets fodder to fill airtime and print space.

Who picks up the bills for these premieres? “The amount is divided between the theatre-owners and producers though the percentage varies according to the deal,” says Devang Sampat, marketing and programming VP, Cinemax, which has premiered 60 films in one-and-a-half years.

Such is the craze that multiplexes compete to host them. Take the case of Fame. It pitched for the premiere of Shootout at Lokhandwala in a manner akin to an ad agency angling for a campaign. “Nearly ten days before the opening show, we made a presentation to Sanjay Gupta,” says Abhishek Raina, marketing head, Fame Films. The grand event was held at Fame Malad, in the sprawling swanky Inorbit Mall. The parade of film stars associated with the ensemble film continued till late, and Fame held two shows each on all its screens.

If T. Anupam, centre manager of Inorbit, is to be believed, nearly 50,000 mall visitors witnessed the whole drama. If that wasn’t enough, the post-premiere bash continued till 4 am, with a South African chain of restaurants sponsoring the dinner. Apart from playing host, Fame took care of snacks and beverages, branding and security. Though the extravaganza cost more than Rs 25 lakh, Fame Films, which has earmarked 20 per cent of its budget for premieres, feels it was all worth it.

Mumbai’s oldest multiplex chain, which brought premieres back into fashion with Kaante in 2002, insists they are selective. “The sense of exclusivity is watered down when small-scale dos are passed off as premieres. We opt for power-packed films and draw up the guest list with care,” says Shunali Shroff, communications head, Fame Films. Some PR execs, however, disclose that many industry small-timers make an effort through managers as well as producers to make it to the premiere guest list.

Apart from premieres, production companies also opt for paid previews and special screenings. “When UTV is sure of a product’s success, like in the case of Rang De Basanti and Khosla Ka Ghosla, we go in for paid previews. For The Namesake, we had special screenings in January though the film was released in March,” says Puri.

“Premieres are not just about watching the film first; they’re also about celebrating the occasion with friends involved in the making of the film,” says actor Amrita Arora, a premiere regular, who often shows up with most of her sister Malaika’s family. Traffic Signal’s Neetu Chandra, who was recently accused of “two-timing” as she was seen at two premieres on one night—that of Metro and Good Boy Bad Boy—offers a similar argument. “Since I’m a newcomer, I make it a point to attend films of newcomers to encourage them.”

Both Chandra and Arora admit that dressing up in designer togs is a must. Arora says she wore the ultimate stylish label, Balenciaga, for the Shootout premiere. Designer Falguni Peacock, however, is not too impressed. “In India, celebrities don’t take much care to dress up for premieres unless it’s a big banner production,” she says.

But she isn’t entirely correct. At the premiere of Metro, all three leading ladies—Shilpa Shetty, Kangana Ranaut and Konkona Sen Sharma—turned up in ravishing ensembles. Shetty often wears Rocky S, Neeta Lulla and Tarun Tahiliani; she wore a metallic gown for the premiere of Apne. Ranaut has given cocktail dresses a new lease of life, and Preity Zinta is on a Valentino promotion spree.

Creating the prefect ambience for premieres doesn’t stop with star appearances and their dress code. Décor plays a key role too. For the Ocean’s Thirteen premiere, there were mock Roulette and Blackjack tables laid out as alcohol flowed free. At the Pirates do, sword-brandishing costume-clad youth roamed the room. “For Don’s premiere, we created an air of suspense with green lights, while for Lage Raho Munnabhai, the multiplex was adorned with flowers as it’s a movie for the masses,” says Shroff.

The premiere of Apne cost Rs 10 lakh. Sunny Deol insisted on a green carpet as opposed to a red one, in keeping with the new awakening to global warming.

Premieres are a huge networking platform. That’s another reason why they’ve moved to the ’burbs. Most of the ‘glamour’ world lives here and a biggish turnout is guaranteed. “They’ve become more of social gatherings,” says jewellery designer cum event promoter Niharika Khan, another regular. Filmmaker Kabir Khan explains: “You come across a lot people whom you don’t otherwise meet due to busy schedules. Mini (wife, Mathur) and I often come for premieres with a bunch of friends. As they take place late in the evenings, they have all the trappings for a nice night out.”

But a night out with boyfriend and wannabe star Abhishek Awasthi was definitely not on Rakhi Sawant’s mind when she reached for Die Hard 4.0 premiere at PVR, Juhu. Letting her neckline plunge precariously to reveal her silicon-improved assets and sporting a wig “just for the heck of it”, Rakhi posed with a gun, Bruce Willis-style, triggering a near media stampede. And before the lady left, she made it a point to request PVR staff to invite her for every premiere they host.
She needn’t have. The beauty of this game is that the organisers need her as much as she needs them.