Technology and entertainment

I have really admired offlate the marketing strategies that some of the big companies have owned in order to market their movies.. Yash Raj always comes to my mind first.. They go the whole hog to get the eyeballs popping..

Happened to come across Aamir Khan's Blog a few months back. Don't know any other actor who actually maintains a personal blog..but he does.. his posts are far and in between but he still manages to post them none the less.. mostly about what he is upto and always about his movies.. It seems this trend started from his Film Lagaan and has continued. Presently he talks about Taare Zameen Par to the the developments with his film shoot of Ghajjini..to his new hairstyle.. He even proposed the idea of meeting 10, 15 bloggers in his trip to Toronto if he had the time and asked people to leave their numbers and email ids.. though he didnt manage to but he says that he will try and manage it as often as possible while he is travelling different places.. He even chats on his website.. he gives a time when he is online and memebers can log in at that time and chat with him... he has over 1000 odd coments atleast on each of his posts and he even replied to some 10,15 of the people in one of his posts.. Its like dream come true for his fans am sure.. he becomes the most down to earth, humble actor who knows his stuff and therefore an even bigger fan base and numbers to watch his movies.. very subtle but nice way of advertising himself cuz i have realised that he keeps it strictly to work related topics and nothing personal..

Rani Mukherji, Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan .. they all seemed to have gone the blog way at some point or the other to promote their films..Tv channels having blogs.. making things interactive.. and therefore moulding themselves according to viewer response eventually.. its all staged and finally to the taste of the public they are catering.. no more a risk but mostly what people want.. i have become a regular viewer of MTV Roadies 5.0.. infact watched it since Roadies 1.0.. Its an inane show.. but i think 5.0 has crossed all limits of surprising.. Raghu the EP of the show has become a master at creating the twists and turns which would just about keep eveyone hooked on to it.. was reading the sms that people have sent to Raghu flashing at the bottom of the screen during the repeats.. hating his moves on the show and how they hate what just happened in the episode.. Raghu sucks and all of that.. and just one msg flashin in the midst of it all saying msg from Raghu - "wait till the next episode". Another msg saying uncensored footage of Roadies stolen from the MTV office and uploaded on Youtube.. everyone under suspect.. i mean its all staged but it will all get people going at it at once..

Everyday there is some new way treaded upon and everytime it manages to surprise me:)

The Bollywood STAR brands

Ok this ones not about which actor endorses which brands but about what each actor as a brand stands for. Just a random thought so penning it down below -

Shahrukh Khan - Irreverent, its cool to be me, tech savvy, modern, suave, money talks, ego, extremely sharp and smart businessman

Aamir - Intellectual, i'm the only one piece like me, cute, sweet, likable, dignified, hard to get
Akshay - confident lone riser, self made, martial art, action is cool, doing it myself is cooler, risktaker, once casanova
Saif - the little fool, guitar strumming, pataudi's wannabe firangi son, casanova, a little over the top
Salman - Macho, shirtless, humble yet arrogant, media bad boy, Cares a F*** attitude
Himesh Reshamiya - Cap collector, defies every singing rule by singing from the nose, melodrama, the tapori star,
Ajay Devgan - serious, reclusive, husband to the most popular shahrukh lady
Hrithik - Dancer, body builder with the muscles, humble, family man, hardworking, more birbal looking rather than akbar in Jodha Akbar :D
Amitabh - the angry old man , blink and you still won't miss him :) that one goes for shahrukh too (with all their ads), the bacchan parivar (ekta kapoor's true inspiration), dedicated, respected
Abhisekh - papa's beta, good actor but under the shadow of too many famous bacchans like amitabh and now wife aishwarya, teeny bopper at his 30's, fat chubby and look ugly in most ads is the motto, popular nonetheless
Aishwarya - Plastic, green eyes, most beautiful woman in the world, fake, act once in a while beyond looking pretty, wear a business suit while representing India on the Oprah Show, American accent dropped in for garnishing purposes, Aishwarya rai BACCHAN
Kareena - hottest property even when she was a flop, lucky, anorexic now, saif's latest muse, speaks her mind, i love myslef, i do what i want unlike the ever sweet docile elder sister karishma
Priyanka - Sassssssssy, sexyyyyyy, well spoken, miss world
Preity - Bubbly, pink, the girly girl yet tom boyish, smart, brave they say, now a business woman

Well thats a few i could think just off the head right now.. i m sure there are tonnes more i am missing out on.. do add to it :)