The importance of chartbuster music and marketing

The importance of chartbuster music and marketing

We all know India is a music driven country. The kind of opening any movie takes at the box office nowadays depends heavily on the music and how well it's marketed. Irrespective of the content of a film and star-cast, a chartbuster in a film is a must.

For instance if we look at Ragini MMS 2, the genre was horror and the initial promos did not garner much excitement. However, as soon as Baby Doll' was released it was a chartbuster, a happy fun party song completely opposite to the mood of the film, that helped play a huge part in guaranteeing the opening of the film.

Ek Villain again had undoubtedly the best music album of 2014; Galliyan' alone was enough to create the much needed buzz and hype for the film. The film didn't have a massively popular star-cast, yet it almost managed to beat the opening day business of the biggest superstar in the industry today - Salman Khan's Jai Ho.

Yaariyaan was promoted non-stop on television channels, but the extensive promotional campaign was only possible because the music album had some terrific songs. Ditto for Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, 2 States and Main Tera Hero - no big chartbuster, but more than one popular song.

Other songs that have helped create anticipation for films in 2014

• Sunny Sunny, Allah Waariyan - Yaariyan
• Whistle Baja and Raat Bhar - Heropanti
• Tune Maari Entriyaan - Gunday
• Palat (Tera Hero Idhar Hai) - Main Tera Hero
• Saturday Saturday, Samjhawaan - Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania
• Aaj phir tumpe pyaar aaya hai - Hate Story 2

Great music or chartbusters may not help a film in the long term (after the first weekend), but it provides that massive boost to the opening day business. Surprisingly, out of the four 100 crore films this year, 3 are by the same music company T-Series which are Ek Villain, 2 States and Jai Ho. Only Holiday, a film that did not boast of any chartbuster, was the exception. However, that film took an average start at the box office and relied heavily on word of mouth publicity to recover its costs. One or two chartbusters in Holiday would not only have resulted in the film taking a much better start, but it would have also helped the film go on to be a much bigger grosser.