Yash Raj Films has learnt an expensive lesson with the box office debacles of its recent films, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ and ‘Samrat Prithviraj’. Both films flopped miserably at the box office, raking in very poor numbers as compared to their budgets. This, when both films featured legit Bollywood A-listers – Ranveer Singh in the former, and Akshay Kumar in the latter.
The blame for the dismal box office performances of both movies can be lain squarely at the door of their marketing teams. Let’s face it – the marketing for both films, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Samrat Prithviraj, was terrible. The promos were awful, the trailer cuts of both films were shabby at best, and the marketing of the films left a lot to be desired.
Net result – there was barely any buzz amongst moviegoers for either film. And thus, both Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Samrat Prithviraj flopped badly at the box office.
Producer of both films, Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films, seems to have learnt a lesson the hard way from the fate of his big-ticket films. And he seems to be implementing that lesson in the promos for his next upcoming film extravaganza – Ranbir Kapoor‘s ‘Shamshera’.
Yash Raj Films is promoting Shamshera on a war footing. The promos are coming thick and fast, and, must say, they are very creative too. The production house is milking the charm and social media panache of its handsome lead Ranbir Kapoor in the most effective ways. Every other day, videos make their way to social media, all of them showcasing Ranbir Kapoor at his charming best, his trademark shyness and innocence intact.
In one of the videos, he answers 20 rapid-fire questions – quite fun to watch. In another video, he talks about the stars that influenced him while growing up (Shah Rukh Khan, who else), he talks about his father, and several other heartwarming things. Ranbir Kapoor being Ranbir, he’s a delight to watch; especially since he’s a reticent star at other times.
All said and done, YRF has hit upon the best ways to promote Shamshera – through its star Ranbir Kapoor. The film is on the verge of release, on 22nd July, and it’s started to generate good buzz among audiences. If only Yash Raj Films had learnt the marketing lesson early on, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Samrat Prithviraj could have been saved from their humiliating fate.
Let’s hope—for the sake of Bollywood—that Shamshera is a hit at the box office, and Yash Raj Films is finally able to stem the tide of flops.
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