Marketing Ganga

Author: Shabbir Chunawalla

  • Female Stunt Artistes

    Sanober Pardiwalla ( 27 in 2014 ) is recognized stuntwoman. In Ravan, she jumped off the cliff for Aishvarya Rai. She joined industry at the age of 12.

    As these days, mainstream actresses prefer doing their own stunts, the work for professional stunt artistes has declined. Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif performed their own action scenes for Don II and Zindagi Na Mile Dobaara respectively. Kaif learnt deep sea diving for her film Zindagi Na Mile Dobara. Aishwarya Rai performed many stunts for Dhoom 2.

    Anu Ansari has been working in this field for the last 18 years has started accepting small roles in films as junior artiste and in TV serials.

    Geeta Tandon is also a good stunt woman who performs stunts on bikes and jumps from the roof tops.

  • Actor-Producers

    John Abraham produced Vicky Donor. It was a low-budget film which did good business. The co-producer of the film was Eros International Media. Lara Dutta has produced Chalo Dilli and the co-producer is Eros International Media. Amitabh and Ajay Devgn produced films, but they were not so successful, e.g. Tere Mere Sapne , Aks, Mrityudaata and Raju Chacha. Amitabh in 2009 produced Paa with Relience Big Pictures and it was a success. The trend now is the collaboration in producing a film between the actors and studios. Akshay co-prskoduced  OMG with Viacom. Ajay co-produced  Son of Sardar with Disney. UTV and Amir collaborated in Peepli Live and Delhi Belly. UTV and Red Chillies  co-produced Chennai Express. The business model consists of the studio bearing the cost of production, marketing and distribution. Actor’s company receives 10-15 per cent of production cost as production fee. Actor’s company may not get intellectual property rights.

    Here the actor does not charge acting fees. Actor-producer instead takes a percentage of profits. Thus A – listers like Akshay, Shah Rukh or Amir would not charge Rs. 20-25 crore for acting in a film. As co – producers they agree to take a 50 per cent share of the profit. If the film is successful, both the studio and the actor benefit. If it does note  become successful, the studio has not to pay a huge acting fee. In India, the cost of hiring a star is 35 per cent of the total production cost. As this is too high, it makes sense to de – risk it. They can rope in the actor to share the risk. It is a participatory model. Studios take the financial risk and earn a commission on distribution and also share the profits with the actor – producer in agreed proportion.It is a win-win situation.

    The cash flow results from theatre release, cable and satellite rights, home video, pay- per-view, licensing and merchandising and in-cinema advertising. Revenue sharing between the studio and actor offsets the high acting fees.

    Even directors have taken to co-producing their films with the studios. Instead of charging a fee, the directors agree to split the profits. Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 followed this model in Gangs of Wasseypur.

  • Make Up — Daytime and Night Look And Use of Mascara

    Daytime look is a fresh look. Pale Pink Eye-shadow from Lakme Desert Rose Quartet on the lid can be used. As a highlighter, one can use the Pearl White from the Silk Route Quartet. The look is fresh and the emphasis is on sockets. If there is little time on hand, a fresh day look can be converted into a softly galmourous sultry look with the addition of the Lakme Absolute Kohl pencil. The pencil is used to create a broad eye-liner on the top of the eyelid. It is smudged and smoothly blended upwards to create a soft, smoky effect. The pencil is the used on the inside of both the upper and lower eyelids very lightly to create a smoky and not very scary effect. The lip colour is intensified by adding the Lakme plump and Shine Lip Gloss. Lastly, Eye-conic mascara is used to bring emphasis to the eyes. This is how one gets from day to night look.

    Using Mascara Effectively

    Perhaps coloured mascara is a little too daring. One can try pairing black and brown for starters. Black can be used up to three quarters of the length. The tips are then coated with brown mascara. The lashes then look dense and luscious and length is added to them.

    Mascara adds length or enhances volume. Full brushes are used for length. Thinner brushes are used to work on the corners of the eyes and the lower lashes. A comb wand is used to separate and define lashes.

  • 210-second or Three-and-a-half-minute Commercial

    The three-and-a-half -minute commercial was the longest to be aired on Indian TV.It was called Prison Break. A group of foreign convicts attempt an escape bid taking advantage of the cricket match between India and Pakistan.They assumed the jailor and other guards would be busy watching the match.They kept running but were caught. The jailor had an eye on them as he had already opted to record the match on TataSky set-top-box. It was created by O&M. It was aired full for a week. Then 60 or 75 second edits were shown.They had struck a deal with the channels to get the discounted rates. The other long-format commercials are Nissan Micra, Air Deccan, Blackberry Boys II and Idea3G.

  • Dieter Ram’s Ten Rules Of Design

    1.Good design is innovative.

    2.It makes the product useful.

    3.It is aesthetic.

    4.It helps understand a product.

    5. It is unobtrusive.

    6.It is honest.

    7.It is durable.

    8. It is consistent to the last detail.

    9.It is environmentally friendly.

    10. It is as little design as possible.

  • Box Office Collections

    Seventy per cent of a film’s revenue now comes in the first week, of which seventy per cent is generated in the first weekend. This effectively means that the first weekend accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the life of the film. The first three-four days usually determines a film’s fate and are very crucial. Since the multiplex culture has emerged, the life of a film in theatres has been reduced to an average of just three to four weeks.

  • Prisoner’s Dilemma

    It is a classic example of a game. Consider two suspects for a murder against whom there is insufficient evidence. They are lodged in separate cells and questioned separately.

    These are the possibilities:

    • Neither suspect confesses. They would be let off then as the evidence against them is not sufficient.
    • Both can confess, thus incriminating them. They would be behind the bars.
    • If one confesses but the other does not, then the confessor gets the benefit and the non-confessor will be punished.

    Would they confess? Game theory shows that what the suspects would do differs from what they should . Here the suspects make a decision privately — without any communication with the accomplice in crime.

    He could reason, confessing puts me at an advantage. I confess and as a welcher get the benefit, assuming the other would not confess. He is thus better off confessing. But the same thinking also occurs in the brain of his co-suspect. That leads him to confess too. That results into punishment to both the suspects. This is called Nash equilibrium. If an individual acts privately, trying to do the best for himself, he often ends up in outcomes in which everyone in the group is worse off.

    Nash worked on such non-cooperative games. That earned him PhD and later a Nobel. The basic assumption of game theory is that people are rational.

    There are situations where everyone could lose, or everyone could gain.

  • Achhut Kanya

    Achhut Kanya (1936) was Ashok Kumar’s debut movie. He was just working as the lab assistant at Bombay Talkies. He got the role after Himangshu Rai, the producer reconciled with his wife and heroine of the film Devika Rani who had eloped with Najmul Hasan, the leading man. Ashok Kumar’s original name was Kumudlal Ganguly.

  • In-film Placement

    When the product becomes a part of the film’s story, we call it in-film placement. It is good promotional technique. MakeMyTrip placed itself in Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (YJHD). In past, they have tied up with films such as Dostana and My Name Is Khan. Nokia too was placed with YJHD. Several other branded products have been placed, e. g. KitKat, BSA bicycles, L’Oreal Paris in films such as Break Ke Baad, Student of the Year and Aisha. Shah Rukh’s Ra.One had collaborated with 25 brands including Sony Playstation, YouTube, Nokia, McDonald’s, Nerolac, Videocon, Western Union Money Transfer and ESPN Star Sports. Barfi had nine brands collaborating with films. Sometimes the brand is incorporated in the title of the film — Mere Dad Ki Maruti. The studio has to approach the marketing department of the company whose product is to be place in the film. The brand can then advertise along with the film, once the film is released. Munni Badnaam Hui had Zandu balm in its lyrics and that boosted the sale of the brand.

  • Prabuddha Dasgupta

    Prabuddha Dasgupta passed away on August 12, 2012. He was a fashion photographer who got his first assignment from Enterprise of Mohammad Khan. He did exceptional work from French fashion designer Pierre Cardin’s launch in India. He wrote a book Women, a classic collection of nudes, and Ladakh. He stayed in Goa. Over the last three decades, Dasgupta worked with models like Lara Dutta and Lakshami Menon.