Mumbai, Jun 03: A few days before Ramgopal Verma's psycho- thriller Bhoot was released in cinema halls on May 30, cellphone users were bombarded with 15 different SMS messages about the movie's climax. Some messages said Ajay Devgan killed his onscreen wife Urmila Matondkar, while others said actress Tanuja was the ghost who haunted the couple.
The Rs 5-crore film has reportedly recovered its investment in the first three days of its release and Verma gives part of the credit to the SMS messages.
“The conflicting SMS messages created a web of intrigue around this suspense drama,'' he said. “This generated a lot of good publicity for the film.''
Mobiles are buzzing with teaser SMS messages for other new releases as well. Check out a few SMS messages currently doing the rounds: “Vivek Oberoi is the murderer in Darna Mana Hai. Send this SMS to others and save your money on the ticket''; “Kareena Kapoor dies in Mein Prem Ki Deewani Hoon''; and “Shah Rukh Khan gets divorced from Karisma Kapoor and falls in love with Rani Mukherjee in Chalte Chalte ''.
However, not all the SMS messages are based on the plot. For example, Kareena Kapoor does not die in Sooraj Barjatya's Mein Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, while Karisma Kapoor does not even have a role in Shah Rukh Khan's home production Chalte Chalte .
So, where do these messages originate? One school of popular opinion maintains that the filmmakers generate these teaser campaigns themselves to generate curiosity about their projects.
Others contend that the messages are sent by individuals out to sabotage rival project.
“A few people in the industry cannot stomach other people's success. They try every means to sabotage the film's prospect at the box office,'' said film trade analyst Amod Mehra, referring to last year's blockbuster Kaante whose climax—actor Lucky Ali being the cop— was SMSed much before the film was released. He said this “leak'' hurt the film's performance at the box office. With the cellphone subscriber base growing by the day, SMS messages can evolve into a cheap but potent marketing tool, several public relations firms maintain.
Spice, a PR agency, is planning to employ use an SMS campaign for filmmaker Prakash Jha's film Gangajal .
“It's an accepted form of marketing in the corporate world and will soon become publicity strategy for films too,'' said spokesperson for the firm.