“With SRK and Kajol, you automatically gain so much awareness” – Karan Johar

February 5, 2010 - 11:59 AM IST

Though Karan Johar's confidence level speaks volumes about the final product that the team of My Name Is Khan has in hands, there is a strong observation that the promotional strategy execution so far is relatively low key. This sounds surprising because typically for any major film, whether it is a Karan Johar-Shah Rukh Khan film or any other big film for that matter, there is always some on-your-face publicity that happens for weeks at stretch, if not months. This is why can't help but question Karan whether it has been a conscious call by his marketing and promotional team to keep things low for MNIK?

“With SRK and Kajol, you automatically gain so much awareness” – Karan Johar

"Not really", promptly replies Karan, "We haven't consciously decided to do any such thing. On the contrary I have done maximum marketing for this film when compared to my two films like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. The whole idea is to keep things sensible than let them go way beyond a prescribed and self controlled limit."

Commenting on the 'herd mentality' (in his own words) of many a filmmaker who has gone overboard with the marketing and promotion of their films in the recent past, Karan wishes to stay away from over-marketing. "What does it all add to eventually", he questions, "The entire window of marketing has changed today. Earlier, it was as simple as TV promos, followed by interviews and voila, your film is right there in theatres for people to watch. But today, so much seems to be happening for every other film."

Reflecting on the state of affairs, Karan goes on to challenge excessive marketing for a film. "My question is why? Is that really required when the window of marketing is changing for so many movies? Today, best awareness is created in the last 2-3 weeks of the film's promotion. Just because the world out there is probably doing something like that for 2-3 months instead, I should not be blindly following them, right?"

Meanwhile he also has his own take on affairs when it comes to added hype and buzz around the film.

"When you have actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol working in your film, you automatically gain so much from the awareness front because audience out there knows the worth of these actors. Also, given their track record and popularity that they have gained over the years, you are not required to show any desperation as a filmmaker to gain any added attention. After all audience is aware about the people associated with the film and how this team has delivered in the past. These are the very factors that make me comfortable about the box office reception to MNIK", says Karan.

Well, with just a week to go for the film's release, it isn't going to be a really long wait to see what My Name Is Khan eventually goes on to say. The answer would be loud and clear on whether a controlled promotional strategy worked for the film, if the love story indeed turned out to be the most integral part of the film's narrative and last but certainly not the least, whether the film actually delivered what it promised? After all with such reputed names involved, My Name Is Khan hardly has any room for errors and who other than Karan is a best judge for that.