Brand AGNEEPATH Or India's Take on Brands

Let’s start with a comparison

There is a movie which was launched in almost 250 theaters across India. The movie came out of an actor who was giving successive hits. It had every element of success like action, songs, dance, romance etc. It touched revenue of 21 Cr. on the day of release breaking almost all previous records in Bollywood.

Good if you could guess the movie; if you could not then take this hint – A corporate word for personal Bouncer …

On the 26^th of January, 2012 there was a long awaited movie released, Agneepath. It was released in around 118 theaters and marketed well with “Chikni Chameli”, an item number. It broke previous records and earned 23 Cr. on the first day of its launch, running against the fact that it was launch in almost half the number of theaters in comparison to BodyGuard.

“Chikni Chameli” seemed to be the utmost that came to Agneepath in the name of marketing. BodyGuard spent a lot on marketing with frequent promos, scenes and music. Stardom of Salman Khan is way higher than Hritik Roshan currently but the striking fact that the first day revenue of Agneepath has surpassed BodyGuard laid there unquestioned.

On 27^th when Agneepath was supposed to reach new heights, there revenue slashed to just 11 Cr. in the very next day.

What it actually reflected that more than a movie AGNEEPATH was a BRAND.

It was striking when the 2^nd day collection of Agneepath dropped to just 12 cr. which is almost the half of the first day collection

There is a generation who has been touched by the baritone of the angry young man, Vijay Deenanath Chauhan. Undoubtedly, Agneepath is more associated with Amitabh Bacchan than Hritik Roshan. Distinctly the new movie is reminiscent to the Amitabh Bacchan being Vijay more than anything else. In fact out in the suburban and the rural areas Agneepath means Big B, period.

For the film industry in India, it is easier to re-make a movie from other languages than from a former Hindi movie. Lots of remakes have done miserably. The simple fact that plays here is – former super hit Hindi movies have already developed a brand for itself. Superimposing a similar brand, at times, is not acceptable or not digestible by the masses. Sequels of movies are so successful world-wide; sequels have yet to bloom in the Indian Film Industry. Sadly the reason is same as that of why re-makes fail; India (mostly unconsciously) has a very strong association with the brand created

Can it be concluded?

The Brand “Agneepath” called in for a large audience on the first day of its release because of the recall factor that is associated with the old Big B version of the movie. On the second that, launching is lesser number of theaters played in dropping the revenues.

The mysterious part:

What remains to be mysterious is the individuality that the new Agneepath has come out with. This is one movie that is not face the wrath of comparison with the Big B version of the movie. It is viewed like a new entity. The subtle marketing and the dark appearance of Sanjay Dutt must have played a crucial part. More over the performance of the artists gave us new things to talk about rather than comparing. Also it won’t be fair to overlook 72 thumkas in a minute in by Katrina. That’s almost 1.2 thumkas in a second; now that is something that Bollywood has never seen before.

Image Curtsy- rakhshan.webnode.com