Lack of Online Promotion of Oriya Movies

Online promotion is a major business strategy of Hollywood and Bollywood films. Proper packaging and teasers on air can actually make or break a film’s run at the box office. Though Ollywood is lagging far behind, recently, a few actors have actually taken initiative to involve the online media in promoting their films.

Actor Sabyasachi had personally taken interest in online promotion of his film and had been successful too. “Before the release of my film, Om Sai Ram, I posted a still from the film on my Facebook wall and asked my fans to give catchy captions. The best captions were to be put on my wall. The idea was a huge hit! There were many fans who came up with captions and as a mark of appreciation, I let a few of them accompany me to the premiere of my film,” revealed Sabyasachi.

However, the actor also rued the fact that there are no specific websites dedicated to Odia films, where fans and actors can interact and get involved in promoting films. “Even few years ago, there was hardly any information or pictures of Odia actors available on the internet. Thankfully, things have become a little better now. But we still have miles to go,” added the actor.

Aparajita Mohanty, producer of ‘Love Master’ said, “There are posters all around the city and we are airing frequent trailers on TV and radio channels. There are good promotions in the print media too. Besides, we are also planning to go online so that we can reach out to larger masses.”

Commenting on the issue, veteran director Basant Sahu said, “Filmmakers here are still unaware of the current trend and technology. That is the reason they are not willing to spend any amount of money for online publicity. Producers do not give enough time for the buzz to catch up with the audience. They release the film soon after the post-production work gets over. I wish they realize the power of online medium. It’ll only help us take our industry to a new height.”

Simanta Das, manager of Sarthak movies, who is all set to release their next film, Parshuram, said, “At the moment we are only running trailers on various TV channels and radio. We are also giving advertisements in newspapers. But we have not planned anything about online promotions yet.” Source – The Times of India