Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu - First Look and Theatrical Trailor

Hindi cinema's long-term relationship with star studded Diwali dhamakas and glitzlily packaged Christmas goodies is well-documented. Of late there's been a Khan, or well, another Khan  luring you into spending your money at the multiplexes. The logic: Holiday cheer gets even the stingiest of families to loosen their purse strings. That probably explains why tripe like Blue, Main Aur Mrs. Khanna and Ra.One hitting theatres during festive season. The producers obviously hoped that the sub standard quality of the movies would go unnoticed, courtesy the happy occasion. 

Slowly but surely, Valentine's Day brouhaha is marking it's date in the Bollywood release calendar. It's a celebration for a lot of guileless youth who use this day not only to express their amorous feelings to each other but also  to commemorate them. Watching a date movie is a thing to do, just like buying cards, soft toys or flowers is. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, arriving around the 'season of hearts' is catering exactly to this audience. The ones who know every trick in the 'contemporary-lovers' category of date movies and STILL wouldn't mind watching it a thousand times again on screen ! The entire premise of opposites attract, (Jab We Met, Anjaana Anjaani, Break Ke Baad, to name a few), a drunken mistake of a marriage (What Happens In Vegas, Ross and Rachel in F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Hangover) and then falling head over heels for a person you simply can't stand - this film has got all of it. The theatrical trailor makes no bones about it. 

It opens with a brief montage edited vintage style of how couples did it (got married, I mean) in the black and white era and quickly goes into a shot of Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan in what is obviously a divorce lawyer's room. A voice, presumably the lawyer's asks them whether their marriage is a mistake. Both reply in the affirmative. While Kareena's character is cheerfully answering, Imran Khan's character maintains a solemn, unsmiling face. The rest of the promo is glimpses into how diametrically opposite  their characters are, the circumstances that led to the drunken marriage and a few shots  showing their eventually increasing affinity towards each other. Most of it focuses on the couple's chemistry, which is also one of the key pegs of this film's promotional campaign. The trailor is a mish mash of the banter between these two starkly different individuals. 

The trailor has all the trimmings of a Karan Johar work - colours, scale, an international landscape and a pair of good-looking leads. But the dialogues aren't as chuckle inducing as one would expect of this genre. It manages to hold your attention with the words 'sex' and 'bum' being uttered in casual conversation. These are clearly emphasized to enhance the positioning of the film as a take on  contemporary relationships. 

While the trailor hits theatres today with The Dirty Picture, there is a front-page article in Bombay Times and a full-page ad in HT Cafe. 

While the article primarily focuses on the fresh pairing of Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor, there is also a mention of how Imran is the youngest Khan to be paired with Kareena. Kareena has played leading lady opposite all the Khans, and this is another angle that the film makers are using to their benefit. 

The poster is  a breezy one, in keeping with the theme of the film. The look is fun, the colours are young and the enlarged pink frames add to the funky quotient. That the two of them see life differently is portrayed by the  their contrasting facial expressions. Kareena seems to be more open and almost flirting with life, while Imran seems petrified and a little confused.

It promises to be an extensive campaign, but with the content being an easy draw for the younger sections of the audience - this film may not need to pull out the stops for the initial set of movie goers. 

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, directed by Shakun Batra and co-produced by Dharma Productions and UTV Motion Pictures, is slated to release on February 10th, 2011.

Ra One Vs Don 2: Theatrical Promo

It’s been a lull, film marketing wise. Aarakshan stirred a hornet’s nest. Predictably, newsprint was wasted. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was about beautiful people doing beautiful things in beautiful places. Predictably, newsprint was wasted. Don’t get me wrong, there were loads of filmy happenings just nothing that I felt was worth documenting and that you wouldn’t already be aware of.

But to not be talking about Ra One and Don 2, would really defeat the purpose of this blog’s existence. SRK’s return to the big screen after a hiatus (during which the other two of the Khan triumvirate made their presence felt HUGELY) is no small deal. But while the denizens of the virtual world have been busy predicting which of these is going to spin better box-office figures, I am going to humbly stay away from placing bets and focus on what’s there right now – the first theatrical promos !!

Superhero flick, Ra One is going to be the first of the two films out in the theatres. Whether in 3D or not, that’s still up in the air. The official promo in 2D has been doing the rounds since April of this year. The trailor opens with producer credits to background music – a tune which screams signature seventies potboiler. More fitting for Don 2, one would suppose. Before you can register music or visual, a miniscule creature you can barely comprehend is leaping off buildings, flying through the sky and jumping between bogeys of a train. These scenes are interspersed with supers which read ‘This Diwali He is the only Protector’. The music has changed to something more in keeping with the genre, but is hardly noticeable. By the end of the trailor, we see Shahrukh Khan in a blue-black-silver bodysuit, establishing that he is not just a hero but a SUPER HERO. There are cars being flung into the air by the superhero, in the midst of which we see him crouching on the bonnet of a car whose windscreen has been smashed. Kareena Kapoor, shown along with a kid in the passenger seat, reaches out to caress our superhero’s face. Before anything else is revealed, there is an abrupt shot of Shahrukh Khan flexing his super hero-self. In the background, a car falls from above and a familiar voice says something that sounds a lot like ‘I’m all’. Tacky. 

Don 2 opens with some spectacular aerial shots of the landscapes, smoothly leading to the Don’s voiceover saying he is back. This co incides with some well put together extreme close-ups of the new look of Don. We now see silhouettes characteristic of him and his mannerisms, the voiceover continues. We know who he is, but the promo maintains a sense of mystery never showcasing his face – if not silhouettes or close-ups, we only see him from the back angle or long shots. The sense of familiarity is heightened with a pacier version of the signature music from part one. The promo is quick and gripping with a series of successive shots highlighting the chase for Don, the new and old characters in the film and a couple of action snippets. With a provocative snarl ‘Ab mujhe koi nahin rok sakta’, Don departs.


While both movies Ra One and Don 2 are going for the same effect, slick, uptempo, cool and edgy – clearly only one of them gets it right. 


Ra One is a promo that showcases very little, not in a way that would arouse curiosity but in a way that leaves you with a ‘What’s new?’ feeling. There is nothing that differentiates the SUPERHERO from our regular Hindi film action hero. Hell, Don looks like he could kick harder ass than this guy.


 Don 2, on the other hand, creates enough curiosity for the sequel even while establishing the setting. The background score and the stylized editing is in sync with the action thriller genre of the film. It sticks to the basics and delivers what is expected.


Ra One would do better to ramp up the basics – too much is happening and nothing is being said. Don 2 has the easier job a) it’s the sequel of a smash hit b) it’s not sci-fi , in establishing itself. 




Hmmm, maybe Chhammak Chhallo will take care of our superhero's teething problems !




Ra One is slated to release on 26th October 2011. 

Don 2 is slated to release on 23rd December 2011

Singham First Look: Trailor & Poster

While we're on angry (not so) young men, the first look trailor for Singham was out on pretty much the same day as the Ghayal Returns trailor.

On first glance, the key elements from the Dabangg theatrical trailor are to be found tough rustic cop, cop vehicles lined up in army rank fashion, rising sun, most importantly the larger than life savior of the people beating up the goondas that sweet Tamil pulp fiction would applaud. And of course, uptempo background score that only signals doom for those who dare to defy Singham. My favourite part of the promo: the end of it. Not being sarcastic, it is pretty neat when Singham kicks a villain already on the ground. Kicks him all the way to a police barricade with such brute force, that the metal barricade does a 360 degree turn to reveal the release date of the film.

Honestly, this is just a modified version of the Dabangg theatrical. But originality be damned, for the trailor is  being lapped up on YouTube with 106, 215 views even as we speak.

For those of you who are still interested, the first look is out in Bombay Times and HT Café as well.

 A simple one-sheet caricature which shows Ajay Devgan as Bajirao ‘Singham’ the cop comparable to a lion. He is shown as ferocious (and glum) with a caricature of a lion above his head albeit in softer shading. The colour scheme is brick-red with subtle hints of orange and a blingy brown title. Arrgghhh, no more Dabangg-ifying please !! (especially if the shades do not sport lit-up heart shapes in them)

Ghayal Returns Teaser Trailor :1990 Angry Young Man Redux

Now that Dabangg has given every A-list hero a good reason to be angry (on-screen, of course), the original fire-breathing, common man who is out to avenge his brother’s death in Ghayal (1990), is back with Ghayal Returns (what else).

The trailor opens with 2 memorable dialogues juxtaposed from different scenes from the original which features Sunny in one of his angriest diatribes against the police. ‘Uthaakar phenk do yeh vardi, aur pehen lo Balwant Rai ka patta apne galey mein, you b****ards !!’  (Throw away your police uniform and wear Balwant Rai’s leash around your neck, you b***ards !!).The Filmfare and National Awards Jury were bowled over. Existing Ghayal fans will identify, and its catchy enough for those who were too young to have caught it.  This is followed by a menacing, grandiose background score warning of the power to be unleashed in the next few seconds where we see that the man behind bars spewing vwnom at the cops is now a cop himself.

The next few shots simply show how Sunny: the cop - deflects a bullet at gunpoint and punches the baddies. All in slo-mo, magnifying the impact of every drop of blood and sweat that oozes from the villains. The promo ends with him in the classic Ghayal pose – his fist up next to his face, ready to punch the next bad ‘un. (pic below).

The tagline in the promo reads ‘the wounded who will tear the world apart…..’  Strange, considering the tagline of the first one was the same but in past tense!

The Deols who were uptil recently known to be shy when it came to facing the media and promoting their upcoming releases, till Yamla Pagla Deewana happened, to be precise have not only been quick to realize the power of marketing but have utilized it in full-force to unveil the teaser trailer of the sequel to the award-winning action drama.

The trailor was uploaded on The Deols official YouTube channel on the midnight of June 2^nd and also shared on their official Facebook fan page, which is barely two weeks old. The teaser was preceded by a video of Sunny Deol  on the YouTube channel telling his fans that he was back and telling (erm… commanding them) to ‘Like It’ and comment on it (but only good ones !).  The video was rather stern and stoic Sunny paaji-ishtyle and just the beginning. 

A  Bombay Times front page interview (two days after the trailor went up) with Sunny speaking on Ghayal Returns and more specifically the teaser would have reached a much wider audience. (At the time of publishing this post, the teaser had 51, 645 views – huge!)

The marketing push is well-coordinated across mediums and has worked in getting the views for the teaser. On the downside, am not sure how far the nostalgia element will work in this genre considering there are too many ‘angry men against the system’ these days. Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap, Singham, Force – anyone? Plus, the fact that it’s called Ghayal Returns is really not helping.

Ghayal Returns directed by Ashwini Chaudhary and produced by Vijayta Films is slated to release in 2012.

We Want To Know: Is it just us or does the name Ghayal Returns make you want to look the other way too? Or can’t wait for what’s up ahead of the teaser?

First Look: Vidya Balan as Silk Smitha in The Dirty Picture

The Dirty Picture  promotional campaign is ready to roll with a front-page Bombay Times exclusive unveiling of lead actor Vidya Balan’s look in the film. The interview alongside is customary, except for a quote on the film being ‘Moulin Rouge meets Himmatwaala’- but more on that later.  

The knotted blouse, floral skirt and the entire demeanour is reminiscent of Julie and to some extent Dimple Kapadia as Bobby. There is an overbearing sense of gaudy. The look is coquettish on the whole, eyes wide open and an apprehensive biting of nails conveying an innocent sense of seduction. The hip over the hand, highlighting the womanly bulge of flesh over the skirt, serves as the contradiction to the girlishness of the facial expression.

Just to give you a quick preview, Vidya Balan portrays Southern siren Silk Smitha, best to known to us Bollywood babies as the dusky, voluptuous seductress who attempted to lure the hapless Kamal Haasan into her folds (pun quite appropriately intended) in the 1983 film Sadma. The Dirty Picture is a supposed biopic of the lady who rose to fame as a ‘soft porn actress’ in the south and was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

The preliminary publicity effort has gone into boosting awareness of Silk while simultaneously building an intrigue factor around her persona and the kind of life she led. Now portraying that in a ‘Moulin Rouge meets Himmatwaala’ set-up throws up a couple of interesting thoughts.  While the movie earlier seemed to give the vibe of a real-life drama, Balan talks of it as a mix between an international romantic musical and an 80s masala flick. The common factor between the two: high on cheesy dialogues, clichés and melodrama. While the film calls for the cheesy dialogues (totally timing dependant) because that was the zeitgeist of the era in which Silk Smitha was at her peak and we can expect the melodrama from director Milan Luthria (Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Kacche Dhaage) – we are not too welcoming on the idea of clichés.

Having said that, the producer of the film is an expert at marketing real-life inspired dramas. Take a look at the box office collections of Once Upon A Time in Mumbai and Raginni MMS (still in theatres) – proof of two rather ordinary films making it big on the strength of their marketing campaign.

The Dirty Picture, directed by Milan Luthria and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures is slated to release on November 10^th, 2011.

We Want to Know: Intrigued or unaffected ? What do you think of Vidya’s look in The Dirty Picture?