Bollywood rediscovers a potent tool - the press kit

By Arpana, New Delhi, March 13 : A calendar, playing cards, a diary, a tabloid - what have all these got in common? They are all innovative Bollywood film press kits not only meant to give information but also create recall value.

Among the kits that impressed was a tabloid designed by the creative team of Ram Gopal Varma's "Rann". The one for Dev Benegal's "Road, Movie" had a film can with a reel inside it.

"Striker", with southern star Siddharth, had a diary - with obvious recall value. "3 Idiots" had a booklet saying guide to being an idiot. Prakash Jha's forthcoming film "Raajneeti" has used the calendar format to share information about the film.

"In today's age, we come up with ways of getting the attention of the audience by doing innovative things. So why not with press kits? Ultimately press kits are the first information about the film and they could make or break the impression of a film," filmmaker Vipul Shah told IANS.

Other kits that were high on creativity included Amitabh Bachchan's "Teen Patti". Long before the film hit the screens, the kit in the form of card boxes was sent out to the media. For the same actor's film "Paa", a special kit was designed to invite people for the press screening.

"It is team work, from the creative to the marketing department; we all sit together and brainstorm. We plan it much in advance because the planning and printing take a lot of time. Of course, the producers sponsor it. It has a major involvement from the PR agency involved in that particular film promotion," said a publicist.

The theme of the movie is usually kept in mind while designing press kits. For instance, in "Ghajini", Aamir Khan has a short-term memory loss. Before the release of the film, Polaroids with journalists' photographs and Aamir's comments about those journos were circulated among the media.

The same goes for Shyam Benegal's "Welcome to Sajjanpur" about a guy who writes letters on behalf of villagers. Postcards were used in the press kit.

"Taare Zameen Par" had Darsheel Safary's character Ishaan's notebook as the press kit because the film was about him and his world.

"The press kit is an important marketing tool as it gives all basic information about the film. Making it thematically or innovatively only lends itself to getting more attention. Since press kits are essentially addressed to the media which is so busy, it is important that the concept excites them," said Sandeep Bhargava of the Indian Film Company (IFC).

The team of "Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi", a movie about a one-night stand, went a step ahead. Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd. (PNC) and Mirah Entertainment came out with a bag filled with Durex condoms, contraceptive pills, party smart capsules, Tang energy drink, Happydent Wave-2, and a Disprin tablet and distributed it among college students.

"There was a message in all this: that if you have a hangover or if you are having a very drunk night you must have contraceptives, protection, or antacid pills like Disprin. Everything was there in the bag. The message was: take it and go to party. The bag had everything except cash to buy the alcohol," Neha Dhupia, who played lead in the film, had told IANS.

Even "Quick Gun Murugan" had an interesting kit - containing a cowboy hat, two holsters with a notepad, Murugan posters and cards in them.

According to a publicist, the idea behind having these innovative press kits is to break the clutter so that the film has recall value.

"The cost is minimum. Usually a press kit can be made within Rs.75,000 to Rs.100,000. We normally have 500 copies of a press kit and one copy costs us Rs.350," said the publicist.