Making and Marketing content with Universal Appeal!

Popular Indian Cinema or Bollywood as it is fondly referred to as, has always received flak for not having a clear demarcation within the various genres of cinema. The key reason for this is that the mainstream commercial movies have to appeal to the entire mass of audiences and thus to cater to the needs of such a culturally diverse audience the Indianised Masala genre came into being which had an element of every other genre.

However, with the recent fragmentation in the audience groups and opening up of the international market this indigenous genre is losing out on its charm. In an era where low budget sleaze flicks like Murder are made as smart business propositions, or bold and experimental films are dominating the audience preferences under the tag of ‘Multiplex Cinema’, and most of the films are targetted exclusively at the youth, it becomes a tough task for a film maker to actually make a film which holds universal appeal and can also do justice to cinema as a medium, with its rich content.

A classic case in point for the description above would be that of the 2003 blockbuster Munnabhai MBBS.

Defining the TG

To put it simply the TG of Munnabhai MBBS would include anyone, belonging to any SEC and is above the age of six (assuming that below this age the individual won’t have any understanding of cinema).

Having such a wide TG makes the task a little more difficult for the film maker as he has to make sure that doesn’t play with the aesthetic sensibilities of any member from the group. There by, some basic ground rules can be laid down which have been followed in Munnabhai MBBS.

For starters, the film doesn’t have anything which would be offensive to any member from any ethnic group. Even while preaching, neither does the film adhere to any particular religious sentiment, nor does it make any comments on any other. Also, more importantly neither do the aspects used for youth appeal appear as over the top for the elders, nor do the ones catering to the emotions of the elderly audience members appear as boring to the young.

Instead, the film harps on simple emotions which can connect with everyone at some point in time in their lifetime. It speaks of simple desires and emotions associated with them, which are experienced by everyone. Thus, the film does have some standard elements of the formula. It shows a differential relation which the main protagonist Murali Prasad Sharma AKA Munnabhai shares with his both his parents. There is a caring mother and a strict father, and then there is an ideal son, who may be a local goon, but wants to hide his dark side form his parents, and thus pretends to be a medical professional.

And then of course there is a character which is a classic mix of many important supporting characters of the Indian mythology. The main reason to draw a parallel with the Indian mythology is to stress on the point that the film holds a universal appeal, as do the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. This character is that of Circuit, who is an ideal mix of Lakshman, Hanuman and Lord Krishna; Hanuman because he religiously follows the orders of his master, Krishna because he has the ability to give the right advice and Lakshman because of the brotherly affection and love.

Like the mythology or any other masala flick, the movie does have a villain, who isn’t the enemy of the country but is principally opposed to the hero, and is thus the villain. In fact, in many situations it is the situation which plays the villain and thus makes the film more appealing to everyone, as they can very well connect with the same.

Munnabhai MBBS walks a tight rope between typical elements of a formula film and differentiating elements of a new age film. Thus, the film does have a typical romantic angle to it, but it subsides to the backdrop to flesh out the main plot more effectively. What makes Munnabhai MBBS more endearing for such a wide TG is the fact that everyone can relate to the film on some level.

Marketing the content

Movie marketing is considered as a big thing today, and right from in film placements and mega launches to using new media and innovative usages of traditional media almost every film tries its best to promote itself. Munnabhai MBBS however remains an aberration to the rules of new age marketing.

Apart form the traditional route of using mass media, the film didn’t follow much of the new age marketing techniques for its promotion. Due to the lack of the hype surrounding the film, the initial collections weren’t really promising. However, the medium which was responsible for most of the success achieved by this film is the most traditional i.e. word of mouth (WOM).

Munnabhai MBBS picked up gradually after an encouraging WOM across age-groups and SECs. The movie can be interpreted as a product, where in the product content was the strongest element in the marketing mix, and thus, the WOM worked most effectively.

Marketing Potential – The legacy continued

Munnabhai MBBS achieved cult status at the box-office, and reversed some rules in the history of Bollywood. Traditionally, the south Indian film industry has played the role of the content provider to Bollywood; however Munnabhai MBBS become one film which was eventually remade down south. And now a remake of the blockbuster is scheduled even in Hollywood, which may just be the first of its kind in world cinema.

Building further on the existing plot of the original film, the makers made Lage Raho Munnabhai which again harped on all the emotional fronts of its prequel and added a message to it. This film however differed than the former primarily in its marketing. Though the impact of the WOM was strong even in this case, this film followed all the new age formulae of movie marketing and innovative usage of the various media to its advantage, then be it the cross promotions with Reliance India Mobile and Alpenlibe, or the seamless brand integration with World-Space Satellite radio and Indian Oil.

What has basically worked in favour of both these films is the universal appeal. Munna and Circuit can profess the traditional values and thus the elder members of the TG would treat it like an adage, and at the same time, they are cool enough for the younger members to not feel alienated. This is the right definition of a universal film in this millennium.