Often, we as general audience, fans and movie buffs, feel that the makers of a film should have ‘done’ a little or lot more to make a film a better one. And by opining so, a lot of us intend the film to be shot, written or marketed well, mostly of big stars. This happens most of the times with Indian films and more so with Telugu cinema where top stars like Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Mahesh Babu, Prabhas, Allu Arjun etc rule the roost. But what makes us feel so? The common answer could be “Because we are on the other side of the world and we pay for the tickets”. But what happens in their world? From story discussions to marketing plannings, from production issues to theatrical release issues, from promo cuts to outdoor marketing, a lot goes on in their world which one cannot fathom looking from outside.
With the ease of usage of digital world, it is easy (some feel righteous) for us to reach out to celebs, producers, directors and all prominent personalities and ask them about the updates of our favourite star’s films with just one tweet. But are they in a situation to give an apt answer? The answer, most of the times, is NO. If one can decode this situation with open mind, it’s simple to understand. Through the journey of a film, there are lot of parties involved in the process of decision making. From script writer to digital platform managers to marketing leads, the count of the heads involved in the journey is in hundreds. But who takes the call? The producer, director or the lead actor? It is a case-specific situation again.
We reached out to couple of people in the film industry and asked them a question – “What makes fans happy?”. And the responses we got were quite interesting. A popular executive producer(On condition of anonymity) says,”As an individual and a fan of a specific star, you may feel it is right to release a trailer at so & so time. But our question is, who knows it better? Fans or us, who are making the film? We know for a fact that fans like that are in millions. And when you are catering to such a huge count, it is merely impossible to make all of them happy.”
Another line producer, who has worked with many top stars, says,”These days it is easy for anyone to pick up a phone and throw a tweet, and ‘question’ us about updates of their favourite star’s movie. But we cannot give them as and when they demand it. There is a cycle and process we all follow keeping in mind the busines on hand. We invest so much in the film with an intention to make business. The decisions cannot be made depending on fans’ demands. They will be in consideration for sure since fans are the ones who build the market for any star. But, it is not solely dependent on their demands. And if we tell them the same thing, in couple of days, a hashtag starts trending online which will be against us.”
This love-hate relationship between fans, stars and filmmakers continues to be an ongoing saga. But if one does wonder whether there would be an end to this road, the answer would probably be no. But why should fans or admirers behave so? In simple words, it is the Love for their demi-god which makes them do all that. But as someone who is on the other side of the wall, we may be jumping the gun too many times which may result in hurting the makers of the film. Is it fair? The answer lies within the question we ask!
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