A digital motion poster of Gajakessari, which hit the theatres recently, is making news across Karnataka. And according to the cinematographer-turned-director, S Krishna of Mungaru Male fame, it is a first in Sandalwood. “Hollywood and Bollywood have this digital poster culture, which has now been introduced in Kannada with my film,” says Krishna.
The motion poster is part of a digital campaign which is projected in hundreds of theatres that supports Qube Cinema technology. “Usually such posters are quite a hit on the social media network but I decided to go with the theatres and connect better with the audience. We always boast about the making through print and electronic media, but this time, I wanted the poster to do the talking,” he says.
And the director is elated with the reaction from the audience, after the digital poster got released across theatres where Yash’s latest film is running. “I had to get it cleared from the censor board before projecting the poster. With his film having a big opening, this digital promotion during the interval has also received overwhelming response from the audience, which is a moral booster. It also gives a better picture about the status of the film,” he states.
The hair extension: According to the director, making the digital poster was not an easy job as he insisted on a certain look on actor Yash for which he had to get a hair extension. “The film has a 20-minute periodic element for which we had to go back to history. After much thought, we decided to give the hero a tribal look. Alex, who did hair extensions for Shahrukh Khan in Don 2 and Telugu film, Badrinath, came down to Bangalore. I spent approximately `6 lakhs to get the hair extension done,” says Krishna.
It was definitely a painful process for Yash, says the director.
“He had to sit for 20 hours straight, without moving, to get the look and he had to spend 6 hours more to get it removed. I was shocked to learn that Alex took 15 days to do the hair extension for Shahrukh Khan. People suggested that I use a wig but I wanted the look to be more authentic and it was possible only because of the actor’s commitment,” he says. Krishna now intends to come up with a series of digital posters. “The feedback from the audience is very important. I now want to make use of this digital poster technology to connect to them,” he adds.