The Promotional Storm Around Tathagata: Thus, RGV’s provocative and outrageous social media campaign.

Even the name Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) who rules the world of YouTube for making bold and unconventional films has never run out of ideas for marketing his movies. Head down down the street While RGV has always been in the news for his outrageous publicity stunts, he has stirred a controversy yet again with his latest movie Tathagata’s posters. Taking full advantage of Internet connections via social networking sites, the filmmaker has been quite shamelessly vulgar to the core as he tweets images of the captured notorious political personalities including Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh. This strategy has for sure created awareness, but I believe it was more on the consecrated side of controversy as it balanced the line between marketing creativity and sensationalism.

Tathagata: A Movie Shrouded in Mystery

Tathagata of RGV has been receiving a buzz even before the movie was out in the theatre mainly because of the intriguing plot of the film. From what little has been revealed about the plot it seems to be a provocative story that will serve to cement RGV as the maverick filmmaker of South Indian cinema that he is. The teaser and the posters suggest another politically charged drama in all probability to deal with power, political degeneration, and the human spirit; elements that one has seen often in RGV’s directorial ventures.

And based on such a premise, it would not come as a surprise that the filmmaker has gone for another ballsy method in the promotion of the film. The campaign, nevertheless has not been without her share of critics.

The Role of Social Media in RGV’s Promotions

I remember that the creator of the movies constantly used controversies, knowing that Ram Gopal Varma would always succeed in publicity. Twitter has been his preferred medium, he can post messages to millions of people go home, and hear feedback in real-time. For Tathagata, RGV has now stepped up his strength on Twitter posting outrageous things that elicited reactions.

Perhaps the most debatable element of his promotion campaigns has been the tolerance of morphed images of leaders such as Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh. Such illustrations together with ambiguous or pithy hashtags have been hugely popular on social networks and sparked controversy.

Morphing Political Figures: A Bold or Reckless Move?

RGV has placed political individuals into the domain of his filmic story-telling with the help of the photo morphing of Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh. This has without doubt brought traffic to your page, but it created a Pandora’s box of issues.

Chandrababu Naidu

Chandrababu Naidu is a well-respected leader from Andhra Pradesh who has made a mammoth contribution to the state’s development. Changing his image for a movie has caused reactions from his fans who have accused him of trying to politicize films. It has brought about several questions regarding the intention of the filmmaker that RGV has made it clear that he is targeting Naidu politically through such a post.

Pawan Kalyan

Pawan Kalyan is known as a politician as well as an actor who has millions of fans who eagerly follow him wherever he goes. But this direction has not pleased many of his fans, and several have used their social media accounts to voice their displeasure with RGV’s latest photos morphing. Contrary to this some people consider it as an assault on Pawan’s hybrid roles as a politician and as an artist.

Nara Lokesh

For instance, Lokesh has also been portrayed in such a way that forms part of the discourse on developing youth and political image. Out of all the posts, RGV’s posts have been considered as satire or ridicule of Lokesh’s political entry and this has created more controversy among the public.

The Reactions: A Storm of Mixed Opinions

The posts have attracted criticism from some people accusing RGV of being an unethical director to get attention. The political allies of the figures that have been named have also come out to object, some even pointing at the filmmaker for defamation and violation of their civil rights.

In the same breath, RGV’s fans and lovers of his creativity consider this as another annoying but typical way of RGV’s boldness in coming up with stories as well as in marketing them. To them, he is the non-conforming filmmaker with balls that have no room for societal or political pressure.

Twitter has turned into the theater of war, and slogans referring to Tathagata and RGV remain popular hashtags. While some fans applauded his guts, others wondered where the guy with morphed political personalities into movie posters drew his ethical line from.

The Intent Behind the Controversy

Explaining RGV’s intentions to the viewers is possible only if one takes a detailed look at the director’s activity and his theoretical base. Regarded for his radical storytelling and gutsy approach towards sociopolitical issues RGV has been more real than reel. By allowing real-life political figures to endorse Tathagata, he is to make some commentary on the synergy between politics, power, and image.

This approach also fits his model of building up expectations for his projects. In this way, RGV makes sure that Tathagata remains in the news – and not just in the pages of serious film journals read by directors and actors – she is the kind of media hog who also fascinates lay readers, regular erstwhile moviegoers.

The Risks of Controversial Marketing

Nonetheless, RGV’s strategy of going directly to his target audience is impossible to argue against, albeit risky.

• Legal Consequences: The blending of images of influential politicians interfered with the freedom of expression and could trigger lawsuits. Litigation against defamation or threats to keep the movie off the shelves is something possible to be witnessed.
• The backlash from Fans and Supporters: Many political supporters of AP CM Chandrababu Naidu and Pavan Kalyan have enough power to blacklist this movie and thus the results of the screening might be affected.
• Dilution of Artistic Value: For some, what concerns them is the controversy and not the film art, thus the films end up becoming spectacles in place of cinema.

The Impact on Tathagata

Despite the controversies, one thing is certain: Thanks to RGV’s promotion, Tathagata has become one of the leading discussed movies of the year. These controversies have created anticipation, so people will come to theaters to find out for themselves what it was all about.

It also stresses changes that have occurred in promotional techniques in the context of the increased use of web media as the main playing field for attention. RGV’s campaign for Tathagata might just be the trendsetter on how controversy would be used to sell a movie.

Conclusion

Ram Gopal Varma has come up with his usual touch of controversy and innovation with the trailer of Tathagata. Through morphing the photos of political leaders such as Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Nara Lokesh he has created controversies that overstep the cinematic debates involving ethical questions regarding political, and artistic freedom.

As the campaign has been criticized it allowed Tathagata’s name to stay in the public eye and create expectations for the film. If one has to label RGV’s strategy as provocative then it comes out right that he has done the impossible of turning Tathagata into a movie that is creating sensation. How typical RGVian he has been to turn controversy into cash and once again make himself among the intriguing personalities of Indian cinema.