In India s highly competitive Bollywood movie industry, any publicity is good publicity as studios battle to secure maximum exposure for their upcoming films.
Dozens of public relations firms have sprung up in recent years to promote movies and boost stars profiles by feeding insatiable TV channels, magazines and newspapers with tidbits of gossip – some of which might even be true.
But just how far such spin might be taken was brought into question recently after leading Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, a Muslim, was questioned by immigration officials at a US airport.
India s media was filled for days with outrage at how Khan had been treated, and a public debate raged over the contentious issue of racial profiling, religious prejudice and attitudes to Indians when they travel abroad.
Amid the furor, some pointed out the coincidence that Khan – popularly known as SRK – had just completed a major film that deals with the experiences of Muslims in the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Prabhat Choudhary, from the Mumbai marketing firm Spice, does not believe Khan s airport controversy was a set-up, but suggested it may have been used by the actor s advisers to generate pre-release interest.
I m aware of a lot of incidents that have been smartly or ruthlessly exploited, Choudhary told AFP.
The kind of media which SRK got, it s helped the film for sure. This is the theme of My Name Is Khan and in one stroke you ve put out the theme of your film to so many people.
The storm of protest was so loud that the US ambassador to India even issued a statement describing Khan as a global icon who was a welcome guest in the United States.
SRK himself called a press conference on his return to Mumbai last week, and created further publicity by denying that his original complaint about being briefly held for questioning was an attempt to promote him or the film.
I don t want to sound pompous, Khan told reporters. But Shahrukh Khan doesn t need any publicity.
Choudhary and other Bollywood insiders say getting and keeping a star or film in the public eye is vital, as films need to be instant successes when they open.
Any sort of buzz you can create to ensure that people are interested is the key thing, said Mayank Shekhar, cultural editor at The Hindustan Times.
Everyone is trying every trick in the book, or even not in the book. Publicity stunts are just one of them, he told AFP.
The usual one is the leading pair in the film breaking up or getting together or perhaps getting married. But that s so common now it s passe.
For example, details of heartthrob Shahid Kapoor s real-life split from glamorous Kareena Kapoor emerged at the time of the release of their film Jab We Met (When We Met) in 2007.
In the same year, Abhishek Bachchan s engagement was announced to former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, also his co-star in the film Guru.
Choudhary said the publicity campaigns were a reflection of the industry taking on tactics used in Hollywood since the 1940s – with the added twist that today s audience is more aware of the media game.
With films judged either as flops or blockbusters, the stakes were high, he said.
One movie he helped promote – Ghajini starring Aamir Khan – took 400 million rupees (8.2 million dollars) in its opening weekend late last year, eight times as much as the average blockbuster even 10 years ago.
Many leading actors such as Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan, who both own production companies, are now more involved in marketing and can spin a situation to their advantage, he added.
While press officers and publicists bombard reporters with daily phone calls, text messages and emails, some observers fear that such efforts damage the quality and content of the coverage that readers receive.
Objective discussion of film is gradually disappearing, veteran Mumbai newspaper editor and commentator Kumar Ketkar, told AFP.
Instead, media outlets are filling pages and airtime with hype and spoon-fed gossip masquerading as news at the expense of weightier subjects.
Readers and viewers have begun to learn that these are manufactured and that s why some films bomb at the box office, he warned.
