Pihu's promotional gimmick baffles Twitterati

Pic Courtesy: Movie Still

New Delhi: The trailer of Pihu, which is being touted as the millennial version of Rajesh Khanna starrer Aakhri Khat, created an immense buzz amongst the audience. It received accolades from the viewers and critics alike but the promotional gimmick that the makers used left the Twitterati fuming.

According to reports, people have received calls from a girl child wailing on the other side. She hangs up without saying anything. When the receiver calls back, he gets a message with a link to the trailer of Pihu.  

Journalist Sudhir Srinivasan who fell prey to the 'horrible' gimmick, took to Twitter and wrote, “Got a call from an anonymous number. A baby wailed about her mother and dad and hung up. Disturbed, I tried calling back in vain. Got a message with a link to help the child. A link, as it turns out, of #Pihu’s trailer. A horrible idea, a disgusting invasion of privacy.”

Got a call from an anonymous number. A baby wailed about her mother and dad, and hung up. Disturbed, I tried calling back in vain. Got a message with a link to help the child. A link, as it turns out, of #Pihu's trailer. A horrible idea, a disgusting invasion of privacy. — Sudhir Srinivasan (@sudhirsrinivasn) October 26, 2018

Another Twitter user wrote, "This is the worst movie promotion I have ever heard. Saw the trailer a few days back, personally, i feel it’s so terrifying because I have a niece of same age..! #Pihu."

Although the makers might think that their marketing strategy is out of the box, it surely didn't go down with people.

Based on a true incident, 'Pihu' revolves around a two-year-old girl who gets into an unexpected situation where she is all by herself. It stars Myra Vishwakarma and Prerna Sharma in lead roles.

The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP and Siddharth Roy Kapur's Roy Kapur Films and Shilpa Jindal.

'Pihu' has been well-appreciated at the international film festivals. It won the Grand Prize of Best Feature Film in international competition category and Best Film People's Choice award at the gala, which wrapped up on December 3. It won two awards at the 14th Trans-Saharan International Film Festival at Zagora in Morocco.