Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Negativity about a big budget Bollywood action film was already being spread everywhere specially on the social media and online publications, even before its release. This mammoth-budgeted film was originally scheduled to release on a day which was proved to be a lucrative business day for films where even two films released together would end-up collecting huge sums. So, obviously that particular day/week was targeted by multiple films for their release. But, this 'Mammoth' also wanting to release on the same day made the makers of the other simultaneous releases sweat in their underpants. 'Mammoth' was now seen as a huge threat akin to a super-typhoon capable of completely uprooting the other films at the box office. Hence, 'Mammoth' was now at the receiving end of a neatly orchestrated campaign to pull it down. Self-proclaimed critics and prediction experts were busy trying to reduce its market value by under-valuing and under-predicting the film before the release to arm-wrest more screens with the exhibitors. Makers of 'Mammoth' who are relatively newbies when it came to large-scale releases and large-canvas films, and 'Mammoth' being their first big-budget Bollywood action flick, had no clue what was cooking behind the curtains; and they were busy gearing-up for their massive world-wide release. But, as always, the stench of any dirty cooking cannot be contained for long, and the 'Mammoth' makers finally got the scent of what was going on. Initially, there were disagreements with regards to the release date. But, finally, may be all of them sensed what was going on, and all of them unanimously decided to postpone their film to a later date. The devious tactics of this particular nefarious group worked, as they succeeded in getting 'Mammoth' to move to another date.
But, the story doesn't end there. And, the coordinated PR attack by vested interests to sabotage 'Mammoth' didn't stop even after the shift in the release date. Because, 'Mammoth' makers in a 'tit-for-tat' move, announced the new release date of 'Mammoth' which directly collided with the release date of the same nefarious group's another film which is a significantly smaller film in every aspect. Taken aback, and with no other options, 'Nefo Group' postponed their smaller film to a later date to avoid colliding with 'Mammoth'. Having beaten at their own devious game, disgruntled 'Nefo Group' now desparately wanted to get back at 'Mammoth', and a plan was devised to kill it in a week. The motive now more sinister than before, these fiendish elements were waiting with their pitchforks out.
'Mammoth' eventually saw the day of light, and the 'Sabotage' plan was already put in motion. 'Nefo Group' colluded with a few inner elements of 'Mammoth' team to make sure 'Mammoth' was 'fractured' on Day 1. And, even before the actual fracture could take place, fake news about the eventual fracture was spread vehemently leading to considerable cancellations and losses to 'Mammoth'. Even though the fracture was a minor one, the fake news about fracture did more damage than the actual fracture. After 'Step 1' of the 'Sabotage Plan' had succeeded, it was time for 'Step 2'. 'Step 2' - savagely trash and criticize the film and spread the bad word-of-mouth through social media and online publications. And, 'Mammoth' which ended-up being a below average product came as a blessing to all the PR pawns and the social media influencers who were working under the directions of 'Nefo Group'. These PR pawns are self-proclaimed critics and trade analysts who are actually nothing more than a bunch of perverted trolls with a blue tick. They went on to ridicule and slam the film without even watching it, which was obvious from their "reviews" that they had put out. These notorious trolls were carrying out a hit-job against a product, which had massive investments to recover. 'Mammoth' makers could only silently watch all the attacks unleashed on their beloved baby.
'Mammoth' was a monster Tsunami waiting to hit the box office with the potential to completely wipe-out every other film running. The big drop in collections of the holdover releases on the date of Mammoth's release told the story. Alas the giant was felled, and the 'Nefo Group' rejoiced. Had 'Mammoth' been even a slightly better film than what it is, it would've spelled demise for all the other films.
'Mammoth' momentarily had shrugged off all the negativity and had initially somewhat survived the attempts at sabotage, but, fate caught it eventually and 'Mammoth' took its last breath. The Bollywood lead actor who had his hopes pinned on this film to get more projects, ended-up with another flop in his long list of flops.
These kind of PR games aren't new to the industry. You might be surprised if I tell you that there were similar orchestrated campaigns to sabotage 'THO' and 'Nought'! Only the group and the motive was different. The behind the scenes PR games are much more large and frightening than what is apparent. And, they aren't just limited to films, PR is used as a tool to get something people want, or to get back at someone who they don't like.
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