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Himesh Reshammiya's taken a mind-boggling 75 mediapersons with him to London to cover his concert. Meena Iyer reports on the film junket trend—but not from London
Himesh Reshammiya has just created a Bollywood record. The singer with the nasal twang has carted 75 mediapersons to London for his concert at the Wembley Arena. "The press will barely spend 48 hours in UK, yet, it will get him worldwide publicity,'' says a trade insider. "Can you imagine the joint impact of so many print and television journalists coming back and singing his praises? After this trip he'll probably feel like India's answer to Michael Jackson.''
It's not like Himesh (who's expected to make a 'surprise' announcement on the occasion, of a film with himself in the lead) is so mediocre as to need a humungous media orchestra to trumpet his achievements. Producer Romu Sippy, who saw the composer perform at New Jersey recently, says, "His show was a sell-out. I have seen it with my own eyes.'' But Himesh is taking no chances.
He's not mincing his words either. When a television scribe recently asked him about his draw overseas, he turned around and declared "You'll witness it for yourself. I am taking the entire press to my event in London.''
Concealed in those words somewhere is a sentiment that Bollywood is seeing more and more of in the past few years—of the junket-giver as the lord and master who expects complete compliance from those he carts along to his exotic locations. "Journos are always expected to go, see and pay obeisance,'' remarks trade analyst Amod Mehra. "If someone comes back and writes anything anti the film or event, s/he automatically becomes persona non grata.'' Junkets in short, are treated as the one-stop shop to force the media into tame submission.
Film junkets have been a part of Bollywood film culture for the last three decades, only the proportion has never been this big. Film journalists were frequent fliers to Hyderabad and Chennai in the 1980s when Jeetendra ruled the roost. And part of the reason why the Jumping Jack was such a big star was the constant coverage his Himmatwalas and Tohfas got.
Andhra movie moghuls Padmalaya and D Rama Naidu felt it made perfect sense to cart a dozen scribes to their studio in the South for exactly 24 hours for an interface with their actors. "When we landed at the destination, we'd be herded like cattle to the studio,'' laughs a yesteryear film scribe. "We'd have to forcibly sit around Jeetendra and Sridevi/Jayaprada like a captive audience, listen to their monosyllabic answers and of course do an 'extensive' report. We'd be given exactly one hour in the entire trip
for ourselves. For the rest we were
bonded labour.''
"Junkets make perfect sense,'' says another Bollywood producer. "After all no press release can have the impact that one personal interface can. And for the most part, the media is also willing to play along. Who doesn't enjoy a free trip?''
Vikramjit Roy of Sony Pictures (India) says that in Hollywood, junkets are something the studios plan right at the onset. "They're on the priority list for every major production. Definite budgets are set aside for this,'' he says. "And it is an exercise that definitely value adds to the brand.''
Sony is actually preparing a media exercise for its next release Casino Royale in New York. And in the past the press was flown to Cannes to interact with the star cast of The Da Vinci Code and Marie Antoinette. "For The Pirates Of The Caribbean, the press were taken on a luxury vessel on the coast of America,'' says Roy.
But Bollywood junkets too are becoming increasingly important. Not to mention more do-able for producers. "A lot of films are being shot in conjunction with tourism boards and airlines,'' says producer Kulbhushan Gupta. "So, besides getting huge spaces for the actors, the tourism board encourages the producers to call mediapersons and offer heavily subsidised rates.'' Recently the Singapore Tourism Board hosted the media that went to cover Krrish, and Malaysia Tourism did the same for Don.
Prabhat Chaudhary of Spice, a company that now has a presence in UK as well, says, "With so many films being shot abroad and overseas market becoming a crucial component, it is only natural that the media travels to overseas locations. Not just in terms of shootings but a lot of film business action is happening in places likes LA, London and Cannes. Marketing and communication in overseas market is becoming crucial and in future we can also see a UK media contingent being flown in here to cover Bollywood.''
The flip side, of course, is the reams of publicity generated for events and films, good, bad and ugly. It is an open secret that big film-makers have hosted select journalists in style on their overseas shoots or premieres and garnered great reviews for their terrible films. "So for the next fortnight, be prepared to digest the Reshammiya blitzkrieg,'' says a Bollywood insider. "All of it generated on that arena in London.''
It's not like Himesh (who's expected to make a 'surprise' announcement on the occasion, of a film with himself in the lead) is so mediocre as to need a humungous media orchestra to trumpet his achievements. Producer Romu Sippy, who saw the composer perform at New Jersey recently, says, "His show was a sell-out. I have seen it with my own eyes.'' But Himesh is taking no chances.
He's not mincing his words either. When a television scribe recently asked him about his draw overseas, he turned around and declared "You'll witness it for yourself. I am taking the entire press to my event in London.''
Concealed in those words somewhere is a sentiment that Bollywood is seeing more and more of in the past few years—of the junket-giver as the lord and master who expects complete compliance from those he carts along to his exotic locations. "Journos are always expected to go, see and pay obeisance,'' remarks trade analyst Amod Mehra. "If someone comes back and writes anything anti the film or event, s/he automatically becomes persona non grata.'' Junkets in short, are treated as the one-stop shop to force the media into tame submission.
Film junkets have been a part of Bollywood film culture for the last three decades, only the proportion has never been this big. Film journalists were frequent fliers to Hyderabad and Chennai in the 1980s when Jeetendra ruled the roost. And part of the reason why the Jumping Jack was such a big star was the constant coverage his Himmatwalas and Tohfas got.
Andhra movie moghuls Padmalaya and D Rama Naidu felt it made perfect sense to cart a dozen scribes to their studio in the South for exactly 24 hours for an interface with their actors. "When we landed at the destination, we'd be herded like cattle to the studio,'' laughs a yesteryear film scribe. "We'd have to forcibly sit around Jeetendra and Sridevi/Jayaprada like a captive audience, listen to their monosyllabic answers and of course do an 'extensive' report. We'd be given exactly one hour in the entire trip
for ourselves. For the rest we were
bonded labour.''
"Junkets make perfect sense,'' says another Bollywood producer. "After all no press release can have the impact that one personal interface can. And for the most part, the media is also willing to play along. Who doesn't enjoy a free trip?''
Vikramjit Roy of Sony Pictures (India) says that in Hollywood, junkets are something the studios plan right at the onset. "They're on the priority list for every major production. Definite budgets are set aside for this,'' he says. "And it is an exercise that definitely value adds to the brand.''
Sony is actually preparing a media exercise for its next release Casino Royale in New York. And in the past the press was flown to Cannes to interact with the star cast of The Da Vinci Code and Marie Antoinette. "For The Pirates Of The Caribbean, the press were taken on a luxury vessel on the coast of America,'' says Roy.
But Bollywood junkets too are becoming increasingly important. Not to mention more do-able for producers. "A lot of films are being shot in conjunction with tourism boards and airlines,'' says producer Kulbhushan Gupta. "So, besides getting huge spaces for the actors, the tourism board encourages the producers to call mediapersons and offer heavily subsidised rates.'' Recently the Singapore Tourism Board hosted the media that went to cover Krrish, and Malaysia Tourism did the same for Don.
Prabhat Chaudhary of Spice, a company that now has a presence in UK as well, says, "With so many films being shot abroad and overseas market becoming a crucial component, it is only natural that the media travels to overseas locations. Not just in terms of shootings but a lot of film business action is happening in places likes LA, London and Cannes. Marketing and communication in overseas market is becoming crucial and in future we can also see a UK media contingent being flown in here to cover Bollywood.''
The flip side, of course, is the reams of publicity generated for events and films, good, bad and ugly. It is an open secret that big film-makers have hosted select journalists in style on their overseas shoots or premieres and garnered great reviews for their terrible films. "So for the next fortnight, be prepared to digest the Reshammiya blitzkrieg,'' says a Bollywood insider. "All of it generated on that arena in London.''
Source : TOI
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