Adipurush, starring Prabhas as Lord Ram, is creating all buzz expected from a movie that took almost three years to make. Just a few hours away from the release, Adipurush team is leaving no stone unturned to keep up the hype for the movie's release.
The team held multiple teaser and trailer launch events and clearly stayed away from the conventional promotion route. Even though the team took some offbeat routes in the promotion for Adipurush, these are still working in the film's favour what with advance bookings indicating enthusiastic opening for the movie made at Rs 500-crore budget
Here is a look at the film’s promotional journey:
1.5 lakh worth of free tickets
This distribution of free tickets started when The Kashmir Files and Karthikeya 2 producer Abhishek Agarwal announced through a tweet that he will give 10,000 free tickets to Adipurush to government schools, orphanages and old-age homes.
After this announcement, a few reports suggested that Ranbir Kapoor and Ram Charan will donate 10,000 tickets each. Next in line was Shreyas Media, an event management company that pledged to donate 101 tickets to all the Ramalayams in Khammam in Telangana.
Telugu film actor Manoj Manchu also agree to donate 2,500 tickets to kids from different orphanages.
As per the media reports, around 1.5 lakh tickets costing almost Rs 3-3.5 crore have been distributed to people across the nation. Several corporates are also choosing bulk booking for Adipurush.
Trade analyst Ramesh Bala told IndiaToday: "Adipurush team did not go for a conventional promotional campaign, i.e. giving interviews and holding events. They could have avoided them to not feed into controversies. But this free ticket campaign has surely worked in their favour. While it is difficult to track how many tickets have been sold, it has created a buzz around the release."
One seat in every theatre for Lord Hanuman
The director of the movie, Om Raut, has been extremely attached to Adipurush. On June 9 in Tirupati, during the trailer launch of the movie, he was quite emotional and even shed a few tears.
Om Raut requested the producers and distributors, while addressing the gathering, to dedicate one seat in every theatre to Lord Hanuman for Adipurush. "Lord Hanuman appears wherever the Ramayana is recited. It is our belief. Respecting this belief, every theatre screening Prabhas-starrer Adipurush will reserve one seat for Lord Hanuman without selling it. We started this great work in an unknown way. We all must see the Adipurusha built with great grandeur and grandeur in the presence of Lord Hanuman," he said.
Trade analyst Ramesh Bala believes that this move by the makers was excellent. "It is a mythological film and dedicating one seat in every theatre for Lord Hanuman has touched many people with religious beliefs. These kind of promotions have generated buzz in the Northern part of India, who are eagerly waiting to see Ramayana in 3D,” he said.
Hiked ticket prices:
Being one of the biggest films on the block at the moment, makers are expecting a lot from the film's pre-release business to recover some portion of their investment.
Earlier, the Telangana government permitted the single-screen theatres in the state to sell tickets with a Rs 50 extra charge for the addition of 3D glasses. The government also allowed the theatres to hold six shows starting from 4 am on June 16.
The hype created is fully paying off in Delhi as the movie tickets are priced at a whopping Rs 2,200 at PVR Director's Cut, and most of the theatres are already houseful in the city.
Low hype in Tamil Nadu and Kerala
However, Adipurush hype is relatively low in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Although these two states are pretty heavy in Prabhas’s fan following, the film failed to create the expected buzz in these South Indian states.
Ramesh Bala feels that the reason could be because of the familiarity of the story among the audience. He said, "Fans in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are waiting to watch the film for Prabhas. Similarly, Adipurush has a strong connection with people in the North. But, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the buzz is so low.”
“The main reason is because of how familiar they are with the story. Secondly, it is a 3D film. Fans would want to see Prabhas in a live-action mode, and not as a 3D model. If you take Salaar, people will be excited because it's a live-action film and also directed by Prashanth Neel of KGF fame. For Adipurush, a lot depends on word of mouth,” he added.
With inputs from India Today