The Tricky Precipice Of Movie Promotions: Decoding Why Alia Bhatt Chose Samay Raina's India's Got Latent

Comedian Samay Raina started off the inaugural episode of India’s Got Latent Season 2 by putting Nimbu-Mirchi on the stage to ward off evil spirits—or, in comedy parlance, the possibility of being cancelled or the venue being vandalised. However, in recent times, the Nimbu-Mirchi can also be said to have been reserved for the marketing strategies chosen for Bollywood films nowadays.

Most hated to most loved

The fact that Alia Bhatt and Sharvari came on India’s Got Latent Season 2 as a promotional activity for their upcoming YRF spy universe film, Alpha, could have been passed off as an alternate reality even till a month back. Samay Raina had been cancelled and beyond for the comments podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia had made on his show in February last year. IGL and influencers became dirty words. Episodes of IGL that had been shot were dropped, and the future of Ranveer’s show, too, seemed beyond bleak. However, much to the surprise of everyone, Ranveer has made a sort of a comeback on his YT channel by hosting interviews, with guests coming back. Samay made a comeback with his comedy special, and now Bollywood stars, who would never associate themselves with such a hot potato, are back on the bandwagon promoting their films on IGL 2.

What really works?

Frankly speaking, what really works? I doubt anyone really knows for sure. Saiyaara couple Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda didn’t give a single interview before the release of their film, which went on to become the romantic hit of the year. And this marketing strategy was lauded for it. But what if the film had not done well? Then pundits would have commented on how they expected such a film to do well in this digital age without any promotions.

Stop faking it

Then you had Junaid Khan’s second film, Loveyaapa. His debut, Maharaja, was a solid film, with him in a serious role, but then for Loveyaapa, they had him dancing awkwardly to songs which ended up becoming a meme. Dancing pointlessly and faking smiles isn’t Junaid’s USP, which is great because he is a good actor and an authentic soul. Luckily, the lesson was learnt, and for his next film, his father Aamir Khan went low-key and opted for promotional activities of a different kind. And who better than Aamir to strategize? Whether it’s the naked PK poster or giving ushers and fans the Ghajini buzz cut, his strategies were different from most others at that time.

Alia’s double connection

Everyone seems to have their own strong opinions after watching Saturday night’s IGL with Alia and Sharvari. One interesting connection, however, is that she was an audience member at arguably India’s first major live English stand-up comedy controversy: the AIB roast back in 2014. And with the recent Pranit More comedy fiasco blowing up weeks after the actual show took place, one guesses that celebs coming on IGL will be on tenterhooks, hoping everything goes fine. Or is controversy what they really want? As they say, “there's no such thing as bad publicity”?

At this point, frankly, I no longer know.

Top roast moments

1. Samay introduces Alia by saying that this is IGL’s highest moment, and Alia’s lowest.

2. When Alia says she’s regretting coming on the show, Samay shoots back, saying even he regretted seeing Jigra, her prison escape movie.

3. Taking a dig at her Cannes photographers’ moment, stating that that won’t happen here.

4. A sly comment on the delay in Alpha’s release.

5. Insinuating that a contestant who was playing a drunk character was Mahesh Bhatt.