EVAM is a brand today, a brand which signifies down to earth plays and entertainment and more often paisa vasool. The actors have great screen presence and while their content may be clichéd, actors TMK, Karthik have it in them to keep the audience glued.
“Urban Turban” is an interesting experiment and I bet this is a format to be watched out for in the coming days. Chethan Bhagat made "down to earth" & "straight from heart" kinds of novels a rage among the young Indians. If the same goes on stage, I bet it’s going to be a runaway hit provided the performances are good enough. That’s exactly what happened in “Urban..”. TMK just blew away the stereotypes ridden Brahmin community of south India. Enacting out certain common occurrences in Brahmin households, he had us in splits.
On the other hand Karthik tried a pseudo intellectual assault with doses of non vegetarianism. The oven cooked and the cake was not too bad in the end.
However, I guess TMK was the pick among the 3 who went on stage and I bet his satire on certain Indian taboos is going to be the mainstay for Indian stand up performances.
Now coming to what Mr. Sabari declares to be piggybacking on the Box office performance and the impact of “3 idiots”. I don’t think EVAM’s “Five Point Someone” is going to benefit anyway by “3 idiots”. Why? Let me list out the reasons
1. “3 Idiots” doesn’t give any credit to Chethan Bhagat. This is an ongoing controversy and newspaper headline today which must have definitely induced some of the readers to give FPS (Five Point Someone) a try but it stops there. EVAM is more famous down south and does not have much claim to publicity in the north. So, I bet people would prefer “3 Idiots” than EVAM’s FPS. EVAM will have to work out a strategy to get its foothold in north. I wish them luck there
2. If EVAM is going to take “3 Idiots” head on, will they point out that in their publicity campaigns? Now this could make all the difference. Say you read a headline which says “EVAM’s Five Point Someone won’t do what 3 “Idiots” did to Chethan”, I can bet there is going to be huge draw for EVAM. The controversy mentioned above which died after the producer of “3 Idiots” apologized to media is going to spring back to focus and EVAM is going to enjoy the results. However, if EVAM is going to go independent in its publicity stunt, it will have to sorely depend on the population that read the book and definitely try to stay clear of the usual image trap which plays/ theatre suffer from (one of being serious and too philosophical for the common man to understand).
On the contrary, I believe this may be a well thought out strategy by the author himself. Now, let me play devil’s advocate.
Novel made into movie- author given no credit- fight ensues between moviemakers and author- huge publicity for free for the movie- movie superhit- author still at bay- author angry- author finds old friends in theatre who adapted the novel first- old friends want to expand, having stayed down south long- author thinks its time to give it back to the movie makers- author proposes a national tour to theatre group in return for their performances and publicity stunt to prove the authenticity of the play to the novel- The authenticity angle is the publicity stunt for the play- people want to try out the play which is “authentic” to the novel ( I bet this book is being bought and read by a sizable young population everyday, so there is cult formation) rather than the “bad” producer who doesn’t want to give credit to the author- play turns out to be a hit by its “authentic” angle- Author gets some revenge- Theatre group expands its presence across India- A win-win for the author and the theatre group respectively.
I bet the story depends on how EVAM is going to market its “Five Point Someone” in places where it does not have a good foothold.
Let’s wait and see.
“Urban Turban” is an interesting experiment and I bet this is a format to be watched out for in the coming days. Chethan Bhagat made "down to earth" & "straight from heart" kinds of novels a rage among the young Indians. If the same goes on stage, I bet it’s going to be a runaway hit provided the performances are good enough. That’s exactly what happened in “Urban..”. TMK just blew away the stereotypes ridden Brahmin community of south India. Enacting out certain common occurrences in Brahmin households, he had us in splits.
On the other hand Karthik tried a pseudo intellectual assault with doses of non vegetarianism. The oven cooked and the cake was not too bad in the end.
However, I guess TMK was the pick among the 3 who went on stage and I bet his satire on certain Indian taboos is going to be the mainstay for Indian stand up performances.
Now coming to what Mr. Sabari declares to be piggybacking on the Box office performance and the impact of “3 idiots”. I don’t think EVAM’s “Five Point Someone” is going to benefit anyway by “3 idiots”. Why? Let me list out the reasons
1. “3 Idiots” doesn’t give any credit to Chethan Bhagat. This is an ongoing controversy and newspaper headline today which must have definitely induced some of the readers to give FPS (Five Point Someone) a try but it stops there. EVAM is more famous down south and does not have much claim to publicity in the north. So, I bet people would prefer “3 Idiots” than EVAM’s FPS. EVAM will have to work out a strategy to get its foothold in north. I wish them luck there
2. If EVAM is going to take “3 Idiots” head on, will they point out that in their publicity campaigns? Now this could make all the difference. Say you read a headline which says “EVAM’s Five Point Someone won’t do what 3 “Idiots” did to Chethan”, I can bet there is going to be huge draw for EVAM. The controversy mentioned above which died after the producer of “3 Idiots” apologized to media is going to spring back to focus and EVAM is going to enjoy the results. However, if EVAM is going to go independent in its publicity stunt, it will have to sorely depend on the population that read the book and definitely try to stay clear of the usual image trap which plays/ theatre suffer from (one of being serious and too philosophical for the common man to understand).
On the contrary, I believe this may be a well thought out strategy by the author himself. Now, let me play devil’s advocate.
Novel made into movie- author given no credit- fight ensues between moviemakers and author- huge publicity for free for the movie- movie superhit- author still at bay- author angry- author finds old friends in theatre who adapted the novel first- old friends want to expand, having stayed down south long- author thinks its time to give it back to the movie makers- author proposes a national tour to theatre group in return for their performances and publicity stunt to prove the authenticity of the play to the novel- The authenticity angle is the publicity stunt for the play- people want to try out the play which is “authentic” to the novel ( I bet this book is being bought and read by a sizable young population everyday, so there is cult formation) rather than the “bad” producer who doesn’t want to give credit to the author- play turns out to be a hit by its “authentic” angle- Author gets some revenge- Theatre group expands its presence across India- A win-win for the author and the theatre group respectively.
I bet the story depends on how EVAM is going to market its “Five Point Someone” in places where it does not have a good foothold.
Let’s wait and see.
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