As Bollywood attracts more and more fans worldwide, the internet provides a once-in-a-lifetime chance of interacting with the biggest stars of the silver screen. Be it Facebook, Blogs or the new craze of Twitter, the technology in today’s day and age gives fans ample opportunities to personally interact with some of the biggest names in the business.Twitter, the latest craze of the cyber world, is somewhat different to it’s counterparts in that it doesn’t boast any add-on applications and neither does it attract the ability to “add” friends in the same way as Facebook or MySpace. Twitter simply asks the question “What are you doing?” The answer can be as simple or as complicated as the Twitterer desires… and if the Twitterer is someone from the Bollywood fraternity, no doubt eager fans will grab the chance to follow him/her.
Currently, famous Bollywood celebs tweeting include Priyanka Chopra and Mallika Sherawat - the latter being the first Bollywood celebrity to be invited to the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. The actress’s decision to join Twitter came when she was busy building bonds and strengthening ties in Hollywood, but at the same time missing her fans back home. Twitters ability to send messages to hundreds of people so easily and so promptly proved itself to be the perfect way to keep in contact with all her admirers. Sherawat boasts no less than 13,000 followers.
In a similar way, recent IIFA award winner Priyanka Chopra joined the popular social networking site in order to interact with her fans worldwide. The 27-year-old used Twitter as an opportunity to promote her forthcoming flick, Kaminey. Her recent tweets include her shock at the news of Shahrukh Khan being detained at a U.S airport. Chopra has become one of the most popular and regular posters on the site.
On the flip side, Shahid Kapoor’s experiences with Twitter aren’t quite as positive. Over 3000 followers were overwhelmed by what they thought to be Kapoor’s tweets but to their disappointment, the tweets weren’t the real deal. Unfortunately, the actor has not yet registered on Twitter and the imitation of him was being dealt with by his management team.
In the same way, an increasing number of producers and actors are using Facebook to promote their forthcoming films and also receive feedback from early publicity. The Delhi 6 team made use of the site to give fans a chance to see exclusive footage and interact with the director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Facebook users were able to post questions to be answered by the man himself.
It seems Bollywood is also able to start its publicity for a given film earlier than the norm with the help of the internet. A perfect example is the current publicity “campaign” for Dharma Production’s imminent flick “Wake up Sid”. Ranbir Kapoor plays Sid Mehra who, at present, has an account on Facebook… yes that’s right, the makers have innovatively created an account for the character in the film. Fellow Facebooks users are able to add “Sid Mehra” as a friend and interact with who is believed to be Ranbir Kapoor himself. Although it does seem far-fetched that it really is the Kapoor hunk behind the account, it seems the idea has substance yet as it enables fans to get to know the character of the film over a good few months prior to the movie’s release.
Blogs are also a great way for fans to feel “in-tune” with their favourite stars. Blogging has become more of a phenomenon in Bollywood as a result of Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. The latter writes, on the whole, on a daily basis and receives hundreds of comments for fans per blog entry. He also refers his fans his “extended family” and, on rare occasions, he is seen to respond to individual comments. Big B has highlighted that blogs are a great way for celebrities to convey their real feelings to their well-wishers and, in a refreshing way, open up their personal lives to millions of fans nationwide.
Post Slumdog Millionaire, it seems the world really is Bollywood’s oyster. With technology on side, the way in which films are promoted is now changing. Taking advantage of today’s social media is inexpensive and particularly effective in luring in the mass younger audiences. Bollywood sees this, and seems to be firmly onboard the social and technological bandwagon.
