Amid pandemic shutdown, short video apps come to Bollywood's rescue - Here's how!

Pic Courtesy: Movie Still

The deadly novel coronavirus outbreak has changed the 'normal' living to a totally new 'quarantine' existence these days. With most countries having called out for a complete lockdown, ensuring social distancing is practised to fight the deadly virus, the least everyone can do is follow the rules and 'stay home stay safe'. 

With the nationwide shutdown, Bollywood and television industry has suffered immense loss as work has been put on a hold for an indefinite time. However, during this time, short video apps like TikTok, Likee and Helo, among others, which have emerged as new-age efficient tools for Bollywood promotions.

Short video apps were used by B-Town celebs previously too to capture the market. Take a look when and how!

When Bollywood biggies embraced short video apps

This phenomenon was embraced by filmmakers as well as fans particularly in 2019. Some of the biggest releases of the year, Dabangg 3, Housefull 4, Bala, Chhichhore, Bharat and Dream Girl, among others, were promoted through short video apps. While TikTok promoted Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Bala by asking its users to create videos using a ‘bald filter’, Likee offered a #HudHudDabangg challenge asking its creators to perform the signature dance of Salman Khan’s charming ‘Chulbul Pandey’ character.

According to data furnished by Likee, the #HudHudDabangg challenge clocked more than 325 million views. A similar #TheBalaChallenge, to promote Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh-starrer Housefull 4, had garnered more than 677 million views.

Regional players too joined the bandwagon

Besides mainstream Bollywood, these apps have also come handy for the promotion of regional cinema. Likee, for instance, collaborated in 2020 with Jjust Music to promote Bhojpuri superstar Pawan Singh’s latest track ‘Kamariya Hila Rahi Hai’. Another short video app Helo recently launched a weekly feature dedicated to film promotions, titled ‘Friday Fever’. The first episode of it featured southern stars Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna for the promotion of ‘Dear Comrade'.

Promotion for a cause

Recently when Jackky Bhagnani’s Jjust Music released ‘Muskurayega India’, a message of positivity by film fraternity starring the likes of Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Ananya Pandey, Kriti Sanon, Kiara Advani, among others, it was promoted on short video app Likee, which has been adjudged the 6th most downloaded apps globally by Sensor Tower. Users on Likee were asked to promote the song so that maximum money could be gathered for donation to PM care fund and Maharashtra CM relief fund for Covid-19. Taking it forward, Bhagnani even interacted with Likee users in a live interactive session.

Popular Bollywood singer Palak Muchhal too used Likee’s live feature to extend the outreach of a doll auction drive she undertook to raise funds for the ongoing fight against COVID-19. The singer has in the past sponsored heart surgeries of thousands of children and following each successful surgery she accepted a doll from the beneficiaries. 

And following the outbreak of the novel virus, she launched auctioning of the same dolls to raise money for the purpose. To expand the reach and impact of her initiative, the vocalist came onboard Likee for the 55-minute-long live session on the app, which was attended by more than 1.2 lakh people and garnered more than 1.8 lakh likes.

These recent developments demonstrate the power of short video apps in reaching out to the masses. The fact that content from entertainment genre is the most popular on these platforms further backs their utility for the purpose. It is a kind of win-win situation for production houses, short video apps and their users/influencers. However, the monetary aspect of the same is yet to be explored and streamlined to further benefit all stakeholders.