In-Emotions
To be diegetically
involved means to be entirely drawn and
completely blown away by the movie. Recently, not many Tamil film trailers
managed to do that. What about Petta Trailer?
Petta Trailer looks
refreshing and new because Rajini’s previous films were low on the
In-emotions quotient. Fortunately, that has indirectly uplifted the mood for Petta.
Furthermore, not many Tamil films have used the trailer to its maximum
potential and very rarely a trailer mesmerizes us to a great extent. On this note, I wonder how the trailers of
box office-Rajini hits like Annamalai and Baasha might have affected us if
trailer trend were part of film promotion in the 90s.
When being emotionally involved,
the recipients bring their emotions into the reception situation.
The term In-Emotion stands for allowing emotions to
take their course when being absorbed in a movie. In-Emotion and
Identity Work are positively correlated.
Even though the trailer
gives us very limited space to feel deeply for any character or events, in the
film I hope, some emotions work. We already know Trisha’s portion is very
limited and she comes in the flashback portion. And we have seen a poster where
Trisha is happily seated on a swing. When a heroine is this happy, obviously we
know what happens to that character. So hope that this ‘kill-the-heroine’
emotion adds value to the flashback story.
I am very curious about
Rajini-Simran Track. I assume Rajini’s character is a 40-year-old guy and thus,
the love blossoming in the 40s will be something beautiful for us to enjoy. If
the romantic track is dealt with maturity and a bit of realism, the In-Emotion
segment is going to be unbelievably victorious just like how we enjoyed
Rajkiran in Power Pandi. Given that Rajini is naturally comfortable in
displaying his love for kumudhavalli
particularly in the scene where he messes up the blanket on the bed in Kabali,I
am rooting for Rajini to ‘mess-up’more in Petta.
At this moment, I am
reminded of Annamalai again.One of the highest emotionally involved Rajini-film/scenes
would be the destruction of his home in Annamalai and the way Manorama reacts
to the news after hearing it for the first time. Petta Trailer doesn’t show such scenes
but I hope the film has something more to offer than
the plain emotions shown in the trailer.
Emotions in the form of
background music is one way film-makers use, to
play within a film trailer that has a dual role of hiding flaws and
providing information about a film.
Distinctively, we know there is a separate
theme for action sequences and the non-action parts. Anirudh’s strength from
‘moonu’ days has been providing heart-warming melodies and background music. To
hear his music with the cool-weather backdrop is going to be both an audio and
visual treat for the viewers. However, where is Marana Mass background music in
the trailer?
One of the missed opportunities is not using Marana Mass in the
trailer. Using music from the film’s soundtrack may not be essential; however,
the emotional response that is engendered during the exposure to the trailer
would most likely be repeated when the same music is played during the film.
Imagination and
Production
The viewers imagine
their own
plot in the Imagination
mode, while in the Production mode the viewers distance
themselves from the events on-screen and picture what goes on ‘behind
the screen’
Imagination is a
double-edge sword. If the audience is able to predict the storyline from a
trailer, enters the theatre with that in mind and if the screenplay doesn’t
‘wow’ them in anyway, they are going to rant on social media,
“nothing new from
the trailer,
“this is kaala square”
“time for rajini to work with Ks
Ravikumar”.
However, if the film offers them a new magnificient
experience, then Petta will really be a marana mass film. Based on the trailer,
we all know this isn’t going to give us a Baahubali experience. So having a regular-Rajini film expectation, the audience wishes to see a fun-loving Rajini.
This is going to be a revenge story most
probably. So in that space, what can we expect? This is where Karthik Subbraj’s
writing needs to be top notch. Inspiration is a thin line. It can be referred
to be a ‘copy’ if it is handled without care.
Production
Mostly, audience don’t
really care about the production value, how much the producers have invested, how
the 4-hour make up worked, the struggles that the team take to present the
film.
Entertainment is
business. Audience wants value for money entertainment. Thus, in modes of
reception model, I would put production as the least important. Of course,
talking about budget and the make-up struggle or the weight-loss effort (like
what many actors do), may be part of the promotions. But at the end of the day,
audience aren’t really bothered about your calorie intake, they need good
entertainment, a new film experience! That's it.
From Petta trailer, we
all know the production cost isn’t that much except for the 80-crore remuneration
for Rajini, 5-crore for Vijay Sethupathi and a few more crores for Anirudh. The
locations are in India (Varnasi, Darjeeling) So for a Rajini film, Petta could
be considered as a low-budget film which also means the profit/revenue would be
expected to be high and a massive Pongal treat for producers, distributors and
theatre owners.
(green- strengths, red- weak areas)
In conclusion, Petta
trailer has exhibited more positive elements on the ‘Modes of Reception’ scale.
That means as audience, we seem to be happier and excited for the film. This is
a great promotional start for the film.
I hope, after seeing
the audience reaction for the trailer, the post-production team will serve as a Mass(ive)
Petta Pongal and show some ‘viswasam’ to the audience!
We wish Petta and his
team, an amazingly wonderful Pongal!
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