CIFF 2025 | ‘Know your audience’: Max Marketing CEO Varun Gupta on how to market films effectively

Varun Gupta, founder-director of Max Marketing, with the posters of the films he marketed over the years.

Varun Gupta has been marketing films for 15 years. His speciality lies in theatrical marketing. In 2018, Gupta founded Max Marketing, a creative marketing studio for Bollywood, and has worked on close to 150 films, including The Lunchbox, Kabir Singh, Animal, RRR, Padman, Tumbbad, Bhool Bhulaiya 2, Drishyam 2. His work starts when a film is reaching the theatre: from designing of posters, trailers, the PR strategy, the digital strategy, on-ground strategy and distribution, he’s done it all. Barring Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, he’s locked horns with everyone in the industry, all producers included. In 2023, Gupta entered film production with Max Studios.

His film marketing range has been wide; from SS Rajamouli’s RRR, whose India marketing budget was at approximately Rs 25 crore, to the Guneet Monga-produced Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Haraamkhor (2015), whose total marketing budget was Rs 11 lakh.

Varun Gupta speaking at Cinevesture International Film Festival, Chandigarh, held from March 21-23. (Photos: Tanushree Ghosh)

At his session Film Marketing: Kal, Aaj aur Kal, part of Industry Talks at the 2nd Cinévesture International Film Festival, he spoke about the do’s and don’ts of film marketing — which should begin from the story/script stage, and not be an afterthought. “I’m not saying, think like a marketeer while making a film but try and understand the thin line between what you want to make and what people want to see. I’ll never recommend you to only make what people want to see because then we all will be making the same kind of films and none of them will be working. We are kind of facing that scenario [in Bollywood] right now to an extent. But, also, it is very important to understand for whom you are making your film,” says Gupta, who learnt the marketing ropes at Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, from 2012-15.

For commercial films, say, with Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar in them, two things are very important, which are the pillars of film marketing: one is the trailer. “Even if you are absolute newcomers, it is very important to get your trailer right. And it needs to be true to the film,” he says. A lot of fans of commercial actors will watch the film on release day, notwithstanding how good or bad the film is, but for independent films, “what works is word of mouth. So, it’s crucial to have a good portion of your budgets to keep the sustenance going.”

A lot of big-ticket commercial films have front-loaded campaigns. “Of a Rs 10 budget, Rs 7-8 is spent (on full-page ads, etc.) before the film’s release, because they are gunning for Day 1 returns. But for indie films, for content-driven films, marketing can’t be front-loaded, because the aim is longevity. That is where distribution becomes very important,” Gupta quips, “The distributor needs to ensure that your films are available in the second and third weeks, which is when more people would watch it in theatres.” He gives the example of Reema Kagti’s Superboys of Malegaon, which “has a production house like Excel (Entertainment) and distributor like Anil Thadani. So, budget is not an issue. Studio is not an issue. Marketing money is not an issue. Distribution is not an issue. But, it’s still taken them three weeks for audiences to get to the theatres.”

The same might not be the case with Salman Khan’s Sikandar, which is releasing on a Sunday, “because they want the highest on the opening day, when maximum people will watch it in theatres, followed by Eid. Otherwise, from a business point of view, the release should have been on a Friday.” That’s a very frontloaded mindset. It works for them because “they don’t know what’s going to happen after three days of the film, whether people will watch it further or not,” he says. The frontloading and backloading of marketing campaigns is crucial.

Gupta also warns independent filmmakers against putting film festival flags on their posters. “Pitching your films with a lot of festival flags on your posters will reduce potential audiences. The moment they see those flags, they know it’s an arthouse indie film, not worth paying Rs 250 for a theatre ticket. When you conceive a film, think for whom are you making it and think about the posters right then, not after making a film. That’s critical,” he says.

He spoke of the decadal evolution of marketing of Hindi films. In the ’80s, marketing was print and outdoor, “marketing meant informing”. Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) started film merchandise with the ‘Friend’ cap while Shahenshah (1988) rode on its iconic dialogue: Rishte mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hain. Both the films pulled in audiences with their visuals.

The ’90s saw the advent of television. Films were advertised from the hoardings to newspapers, magazines to televisions. It was the era of MTV and Channel [V]. “While we really enjoyed seeing the visuals out there, what remained constant from the previous decade were the songs, the audio.”

“When you look at today, a lot of shoulder content gets created. You realise, what the [mainstream] film is saying is what its trailer and posters are saying. How do you ride on the existing vehicles? That’s where your influencers come in, and you would want to ride on their popularity and channel. Like a Kapil Sharma Show,” says Gupta.

“Apart from marketing, you need a very strong, smart and credible distributor. Although a lot of big, credible distributors with muscles won’t pick up a film that would require that muscle but will pick up a low-hanging fruit — the bigger films. But, it all depends on the distributor and your film. Don’t release in a big number of screens, start small and then scale it up. The perception of growing with demand or screens coming down can make or break your film. That’s why targeted marketing helps when you need to get the right audiences on the first weekend,” he adds.

A Bollywood Hindi film that holds the record of the highest number of footfalls in the history of Indian cinema is Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), at 20 crore footfalls. No film has come closer. No other film has even got to double digits. Strangely, says Gupta, the film only released in three screens in Mumbai (including Liberty) on its first day. Screens were lit up. Theatres were decked up like wedding banquet halls. All these continued in successive weeks, months and for a whole year. The songs did their bit in pushing the film. Mumbai-based Gupta, who hails from Baroda in Gujarat, recalls that during all-nighter jagrans at Navratris, families would watch the 3am shows of the film.

A 20-crore footfall cannot be replicated today, also because “no other film came in for a long time once Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! started working. People were not walking into the theatres before that film released — a similar situation like we are facing now — because at that time, VHS had come in, piracy was at an all-time high, films like Khuda Gawah (1992) had suffered owing to piracy and video parlours,” he says. But the point is that “the film with the highest number of footfalls started off very, very small. And the secret of that is distribution,” adds Gupta, who’s worked with Sooraj Barjatya on Uunchai (2022), which underperformed at the box office.

Gupta wanted to release it in “1,000 screens but (Barjatya) insisted on 450 screens only. An 800-screen release might have brought in Rs 2.5 crore on Day 1. But he was very clear on such a distribution strategy. Releasing in more theatres might be a great boost for one’s ego but could be a poor business decision because every screen that your film is playing in is an expense to you. If after a Friday/Saturday, your film’s word of mouth is good, then increasing the screens makes better sense than screening in many halls, but empty halls. It is always smart to start small and targeted for your distribution.”

One man/brand stands out every time one talks about film marketing. Aamir Khan got it right from his very first film, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, 1988. Recall Raja Hindustani (1996), and how its song Pardesi Pardesi became an earworm thanks to the buses, trucks, rickshaws playing it everywhere, all the time. The distribution of music helped a lot. Talk shows became the norm. There was no social media, so you couldn’t spot whether it is a plug story, source story, or a blind item. Because it was new, it was really working. Aamir Khan doing a dangerous stunt himself, running in front of the train, in Ghulam (1998) became big news and a defining moment of the film’s promotion. In 2008, Aamir was giving buzz cuts at PVR cinemas to promote Ghajini and in 2009, for 3 idiots, he went in disguises to different cities, talking to people, doing promotional activities, which SRK called chhichhorapan (immaturity). But Shah Rukh Khan would himself go on a marketing blitzkrieg in 2011 with Ra.One, in a Koi Mil Gaya (2003) way. Advertiser-funded films put the brand name in film title, like Mere Dad Ki Maruti (2013).

All “that was innovation [in the 2000-10]. In our case now, we don’t need innovation or smart marketing. What we need is targeting. You need to target your right audiences,” says Gupta, adding that he still does quirky stuff when a film calls for it.

For RRR (2022), “we changed the name of the theatre PVR to PVRRR for six months to make RRR bigger than all the other films releasing in theatres. It was possible because of COVID, people were still scared of walking into cinemas, and thereafter PVR’s stock prices which were going very low began to surge,” he says. RRR recorded the highest opening-day earned (Rs 223 crore worldwide) by an Indian film at the time.

“Marketing back then was about creating awareness about the film. Now, it is less to do with the film’s release and more to excite and intrigue audiences to make them step out of their house and watch an expensive film in the theatre,” Gupta says.

If Akshay Kumar did sanitary napkin ads — just enough campaigning so as to not make audiences uncomfortable — for a film called Pad Man (2018); for Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (2021), the trailer did not reveal what the movie was about, and, so, “we made six 30-second ads making the leads Ayushmann Khurrana and Vaani Kapoor plant the question ‘#ProblemKyaHai?’ in the audience’s mind, to create an intrigue,” says Gupta. Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, the first of Khurrana’s post-pandemic release slate (Anek; Action Hero) earned the most on Day 1, Rs 3.5 crore with just 50 per cent occupancy.

“Intrigue your audiences with the trailer, don’t inform and satisfy them. Don’t be dishonest, don’t overdo it, don’t tell the full film in the trailer, leave it as a cliffhanger” are some tips Gupta gives to filmmakers. Also, posters: if you have a popular star in your film and the film is about him/her, put their face on the poster, like Ranbir Kapoor on the poster for Animal (2023) unlike Kabir Singh (2019) and Tumbbad (2018), “no one knew Sohum Shah back then,” he says. When Hanu-Man (2024) director Prasanth Varma said the north Indian audiences are mistaking the title to be the Hindu god, Gupta said if the film is not deceiving the audience and the said god is referenced in the film, then to go with the hype, it will work in the film’s favour.

Back to talking numbers, Gupta goes back to comparing Superboys of Malegaon with Crazxy, latter is a film he worked on. While the former did a business of around Rs 4 crore till now, Crazxy did Rs 12 crore. “One perception needs to change, that intellectual audiences or audiences who like independent films are only in the metros. Why do you think the best lit-fests happen in smaller cities/towns? Why in Jaipur and not in Bandra? You need to reach out to small-town audiences. Don’t spend a lot, but when you are writing a film, especially for an independent film, you need to ask yourself: main yeh film kiske liye bana raha hoon (who am I making this film for)? You can’t be thinking about it after making the film, because then the question changes to ab yeh kaun dekhega (now, who will watch this)? And that will reflect in your marketing.”

But strategies don’t always yield results. The Diplomat, without any marketing buzz, garnered Rs 4 crore on Day 1, not only because it had star John Abraham but also because the trailer promoted it as a non-nonsense film and not John as an action hero. On the other hand, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj (2022) failed. “It is not about the star, any more. It is about content coupled with the star.”

“Superboys of Malegaon has great content and great actors. Now imagine a Ranveer Singh instead of Adarsh Gourav, the scenario would have been very different. Superboys… is a soul brother of Gully Boy (2019), an underdog story. Only actors will never work, only content might work but it will take time. You’ll watch a poster, hoarding, an actor/star doing outdoor promotions like Aamir doing the buzz cut…all these are mediums of recall. I need to first create a recall for my brand to be recalled in the right manner,” he says. Ask him to name a film whose chances were ruined by marketing, and he quips: Sky Force (2025), a result of overselling the actors (Akshay Kumar, Sara Ali Khan), not the story.