Slow and steady...

Slow and steady...

Movie-goers visiting cinema halls across the country these days can sample a teaser promo of Aamir Khan’s forthcoming film, Lagaan, which is expected to release worldwide on June 1.

The actor, who has turned producer with this ambitious period drama, has chosen to provide a peep into his film some twelve weeks before the film is actually unveiled. Not common practice in Bollywood, where a film’s pre-release publicity begins only days before its soundtrack hits the market. And the Lagaan score won’t reach the shelves of music stores until April 6.

“When I visited cinema halls in the US last year, I noticed teaser promos of films were screened many months before the film itself was out,” Aamir reveals. He says he saw sense in the strategy and decided to use it for his own film. “By releasing a twenty- second promo in cinema halls you create a little buzz about your film,” he explains.

Aamir believes it makes more sense to run this promo at movie halls as against airing it on television channels. “It’s the people who visit cinema halls who we’re trying to reach out in any case,” the actor explains. Besides, “the lesser the number of people who’ve seen the promo, the more discussion it will generate,” he says.

Aamir says veteran film-maker Steven Spielberg is among those in Hollywood who practices the same strategy. “He’s still shooting his next movie, but its teaser promo is already out,” Aamir says.

Therefore, this short-but-impactful promo featuring the booming baritone of Amitabh Bachchan and select visuals from Lagaan will continue to run at the cinemas until April 6, when it will be replaced by the music promo of the film which will simultaneously begin airing on television. That’s also the day Sony Music will officially flood the market with the film’s soundtrack which has been composed by A R Rahman.

“The whole idea is to create a sort of build-up to the film. We want everything to slowly lead upto the film release,” he explains. “But we want to do it gradually and systematically,” he adds, revealing that music trailors once on television, won’t be repeated with alarming regularity as is often the case with most Bollywood films. Instead, he says the music will be allowed to grow on audiences in small but pleasant doses.

Some weeks ago, members of the film trade received a neatly rolled-up calendar of Lagaan, complete with images from the film and an exhaustive list of technical credits. Shortly, a website on the film is also expected to be on the Internet. Come April, the actor-producer, his cast, and his crew will sit down for interviews with the media. Weeks before the film’s release, a half-hour long Making Of Lagaan audio-visual capsule will also be aired on television.Although he’s comfortable discussing the various strategies he will adopt to promote the film, the actor is evidently embarrassed by repeated queries from the media on how he has lent a helping hand to the victims of the Gujarat earthquake especially those affected in Bhuj, where Lagaan was entirely shot last year. Flatly refusing to either confirm or deny reports that he has adopted an entire village in Bhuj, the actor insists he does not want to speak on the subject. “I think it’s extremely cheap to talk about what I’m doing for Bhuj. It just doesn’t seem right,” he says. “Besides, it’s really nobody’s business,” he adds with finality in his voice.