With Dhurandhar and Animal’s Success, Has Violence Become a Crucial Selling Point At The Box-Office? Varun Gupta Answers (EXCLUSIVE)

Filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, featuring Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal and Sara Arjun, has emerged as the highest Bollywood grosser of all time at the domestic box office, beating biggies like Jawan, Stree 2 and Chhaava.

Apart from impeccable performances and gripping direction, the unique marketing strategy played a key role in the success of this spy-action thriller. As cinegoers are excited for Dhurandhar 2, with its teaser getting tremendous response, Varun Gupta, the man behind the marketing of the film and founder of Max Marketing, opens up about the strategy behind the recent blockbuster, how he gave pan-India appeal to the south biggies in the northern market and what to expect from the highly anticipated sequel.

Unlike many Bollywood films, you opted for a low-key marketing strategy for Dhurandhar. Was it an intentional move to play with the musical part of it? 

How do we define low-key? We launched the campaign almost six months ago by releasing a unit over 150 seconds long, which is a rarity in today's times. We also released a motion capture song unit before the trailer, a move that is not regular for Hindi Films.

Launched trailer amongst 2000 plus fans and media at NMACC and did a full-blast music event with Amazon (as we knew music was one of our core strengths). It's a film that deals with sensitive topics, information, and characters. We couldn't have danced in malls and colleges to promote it, nor could actors sit in interviews and talk about their characters. Every film can't and should not fit into a fixed marketing template.

With a subject like Dhurandhar, how challenging was it to create curiosity among the audience with its digital marketing?

When you know you have a strong product, we don't need to hard sell. Audiences are very smart and evolved enough to see through. We were just pure and honest with all our assets and communication, no gimmicks, no stunts.

Are you planning to follow the same strategy for Dhurandhar 2?

All I can say is - You are not ready for it.

How do you and director Aditya Dhar envision the marketing strategy of the film?

It was all Aditya and his vision right from what to put out and while some of it were spontaneous, most were planned. We had a great talent in Ojas Gautam, and we made sure we made the most of it.

With films like RRR, Kalki, HanuMan and Devara, what strategies did you implement to create a great buzz in the northern part of the country?

As mentioned, we at Max Marketing have always believed that there cannot be a fixed template to market a film. While in HanuMan, we played on devotion, in Devara, we highlighted the hero, RRR; it was the director, Kalki, 2898 AD; it was future fantasy. If you look at all the films we have done from PadMan to Kabir Singh, RRR, Hanuman, Animal, Kalki to Dhurandhar, all have been handled differently.

Do you think violence and gore have become selling points among the audience with films like Animal and Dhurandhar doing wonders at the box-office?

Not at all, if that was the case, a lot of films that tried to encash on violence and gore would have also done well. Violence without purpose and emotion is just a gimmick and audiences can understand the difference. Animal was a father-son story and Dhurandhar is a spy-thriller; remove these emotions and just put the violence, nothing would work.

What are your expectations and challenges for Dhurandhar 2?

The biggest challenge is to meet the unprecedented expectations, and honestly, that's also the most exciting part.