Now caught up with Shahrukh Khan for his views on his new and ambitious movie Ra.One and his film marketing strategies.
For a film like Ra.One, I was told that you are really attempting that this particular character will not die post the movie and it plans to live on with many more Ra.Ones, probably sequels coming on and you are really looking to make and create a Ra.One character for the long term. That' a very maverick move, something that has not been attempted in India before. How did you think of it?
I would like it happen like that, but having been in the business for so long, there is many a slip by the time you get the movie from the paper onto the celluloid. Always everyone makes a film with a lot of love and hope that you can first of all make everyone like it. And then certain films, which you even assume to be different, suddenly turns out to be different.
So movies take a life of their own, but having said that, when I thought of Ra.One, Ra.One being the bad guy, actually who I would like to go on is G.One, the good guy, because normally superheroes are the one and I would like to get new villains. One of the strange thoughts, which I think is the first time I am saying it anywhere, is I want to name each film with the name of the new villain.
Wow!
Everyone always has a superhero name. That's a thought, it could be completely wrong. Nobody has done it. There must be a reason nobody has done it or maybe nobody thought of it, but I really would like to do that because there are two reasons. One, we do not have films which are designed as franchises. They just get made. So Dhoom was a fantastic franchise, Don, we never thought we will have a part 2 or Golmaal.
So these are certain films which just take a life of their own and then we decide to do, but it is important that we do start making films, so they kind of create an event. Movie watching is now an everyday thing. Earlier on when we used to watch a movie, that was the day set aside for a movie. Now movies are one of the things that you do as the day goes on. You meet friends, you hang out at the mall, watch the movie, then go and have food and drinks. So it is one of the things.
For a film like Ra.One, I was told that you are really attempting that this particular character will not die post the movie and it plans to live on with many more Ra.Ones, probably sequels coming on and you are really looking to make and create a Ra.One character for the long term. That' a very maverick move, something that has not been attempted in India before. How did you think of it?
I would like it happen like that, but having been in the business for so long, there is many a slip by the time you get the movie from the paper onto the celluloid. Always everyone makes a film with a lot of love and hope that you can first of all make everyone like it. And then certain films, which you even assume to be different, suddenly turns out to be different.
So movies take a life of their own, but having said that, when I thought of Ra.One, Ra.One being the bad guy, actually who I would like to go on is G.One, the good guy, because normally superheroes are the one and I would like to get new villains. One of the strange thoughts, which I think is the first time I am saying it anywhere, is I want to name each film with the name of the new villain.
Wow!
Everyone always has a superhero name. That's a thought, it could be completely wrong. Nobody has done it. There must be a reason nobody has done it or maybe nobody thought of it, but I really would like to do that because there are two reasons. One, we do not have films which are designed as franchises. They just get made. So Dhoom was a fantastic franchise, Don, we never thought we will have a part 2 or Golmaal.
So these are certain films which just take a life of their own and then we decide to do, but it is important that we do start making films, so they kind of create an event. Movie watching is now an everyday thing. Earlier on when we used to watch a movie, that was the day set aside for a movie. Now movies are one of the things that you do as the day goes on. You meet friends, you hang out at the mall, watch the movie, then go and have food and drinks. So it is one of the things.
