TOI: Film promotions on daily soaps - latest trend

Small screen is no more 'small'. Even the seductive silver screen laced with star power and multi-crore budget is now looking at the small screen for creating a buzz. Since five years, film promotions through reality shows have been a constant factor. But now film promotions are looking at daily soaps for enticing the audiences to see the action unfold in dark theatres. And with this drift, lies a a smart strategy to make the pan-Indian audiences get a sneak peek at the upcoming players fighting for raking in moolah at the ticket window. Not only the lead film stars are making their entries for special episodes in daily soaps - they are playing the movie characters as well to give that extra punch to their promtional acts. Here's a look at the latest 'filmi' daily soaps: 

Pyaar Ka Dard Hai... Movie: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Kahaani filmi hai: It's fun time for Aditya (Nakuul Mehta) and Pankhuri (Disha Parmar) as the entire family is celebrating her birthday. And there enters the uber cool Kabir Thapar ( Ranbir Kapoor) to add more zing to this special do. Aditya, Pankhuri and Kabir shake a leg to the popular tracks of the movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. 

Uttaran Movie: Lootera Kahaani filmi hai: As Vishnu (Mrunal Jain) and Meethi's (Tina Dutta) marriage goes through a difficult patch (Meethi is confused whether to forgive Vishnu or not),Varun ( Ranveer Singh) and Pakhi ( Sonakshi Sinha) come to meet both of them and give them some gyaan on how important love is in life. 

Diya Aur Baati Hum Movie: Dabangg 2 Kahaani filmi hai: As Sooraj (Anas Rashid) and Sandhya (Deepika Singh) return home from her night-school, they decide to enter the home through the window (obviously to avoid Bhabho's anger). And there comes Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) to arrest them thinking the couple is trespassing into someone else's home for a thief act. 

Chidiyaghar Movie: Ghanchakkar Kahaani filmi hai: Neetu ( Vidya Balan)'s husband (Emraan Hashmi) has the habit of forgetting everything. So she turns to the cast of Chidiya Ghar to seek a solution. Babuji ( Rajendra Prasad), known for his wisdom, comes to her rescue.In a fun-filled episode, Neetu too plays antakshari and dances with the family. 

Punar Vivah and Qubool Hai Movie: Once Upon A Time In Mumbai dobaara! Kahaani filmi hai: During Sheela (Nazea Sayed)'s engagement, Imran Khan dances to Taiyyab Ali (from his upcoming movie) with Zoya (Surbhi Jyoti) of Qubool Hai. He gives some relationship advice to Raj (Karan V Grover) and Sarita (Shrishty Rode) for marital bliss. 

Experts View 
Siddharth Kumar Tewary,Producer: Television now has a huge reach, it reaches millions of households. So, promotion through popular daily soaps works mutually well for both shows and films. And when we plan such movie promotions in the show, it just can't be abrupt. Both film-promoters and show producers look at whether the track or story-line can be woven to suit the flavour of the movie. They need to be in sync with each other to garner maximum publicity. And when working with movie-stars, it is no different experience as they are professionals and understand the promotional strategies. 

Prashant Bhatt, Fiction-head for a popular GEC: When we plan such promotions, it is a positive incorporation and an amalgamation of two different yet powerful mediums. Why it works is because viewers get a break from the mundane tracks of the shows. It is important for us to work on the promotion so that it doesn't look forceful in a special episode. And these promotions benefit both the films as well as the channel as audiences enjoy such special episodes.