Ghajini

Ghajini

Ghajini

Couple of years back, as I visited the barber’s shop near by my house for a haircut, I saw one of the barbers with very short hair. Upon observing it keenly, I could actually see that a very thin line had crossed his hair from the top part near the forehead to the below of his left ear, as if it was shaven. Being a very much alien to the movie world, I asked him what it was and he instantly replied, “Dai, this is the new Ghajini cut in town. Do you also want it?” I was really taken aback. Though I had at least heard the name of the movie, this wasn’t what I had totally expected. Then only I realized that there were other people in town who had the so-called “Ghajini Cut”. This did not stop here. When I visited my relatives in Malaysia, I could find so many youths who also sported the “Ghajini Cut”. The self-styled “buzz cut” was in the town there as well. I was really amazed by the influence of this hairstyle.

Indian film industry has had its shares of ups and downs. With the first movie being released in 1913, things developed progressively for them till the introduction of video cassette players in the nation during the early 1990s. This was a time when the industry took a step back. But then with the emergence of recreation centers in the form of shopping malls, things were again looking bright for the movie industry. However, there seemed to be cut throat competition among moviemakers for their movies to do well among the movie viewers in the nation as well as abroad.

Just having a good plot to the movie with the big names in the film industry were no longer an enticer to the general mass in the nation. Moviemakers had to do something more to it. This is where the concept of aggressive marketing came into play. Marketing no longer became just posters on the wall nor the big billboards on the busy streets or the highways of India. Small trailers of the movies were just not enough for the customers to go and watch the movies. You had to bring...