The makers of Pathaan unveiled the film's teaser on leading man Shah Rukh Khan's 57th birthday on November 2. While the audience was awaiting update on Pathaan trailer release date, there came disappointing news for the hardcore SRK fans - "Music first, trailer later."
Amid the bottled-up excitement and hype around the film's music, Besharam Rang dropped. 40 days after the teaser launch, the first song from Pathaan was released, and need we say it went viral in no time? As promised by the makers, the song features Deepika Padukone and SRK in their most glamorous avatars.
Prior to the Pathaan trailer launch, the audience will get to experience the two spectacular songs from the film. Makers will not be releasing the Pathaan trailer before January first week as part of a strategy to hold back the plot of the film as close to the release as possible. Pathaan, which also has a cameo by Salman Khan, will hit big screens on January 25 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Deepika and SRK in a still from Besharam Rang The second song from the film is yet to be unveiled but before that, the makers are to deal with massive backlash coming their way. Fringe groups or political parties at the fringes are weighing into the row over the song. Ironically, the critics of Besharm Rang have made their contribution to the song's popularity through negative publicity. Being labeled as "objectionable", "vulgar" and "provocative", the song has crossed 64 million views on YouTube so far.
Oddly enough, Besharam Rang is facing objections after being cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The trend is not new though. In the recent past, films and film stars have become easy targets of moral policing. When the film industry was limping back to normalcy after being battered by two years of the pandemic, negative trends around films like Raksha Bandhan, Samrat Prithviraj, Laal Singh Chaddha, Liger, Vikram Vedha, Brahmastra and more showcased how this cancel culture is becoming a rage on social media.
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From the colors of Deepika and SRK's costumes to the dance moves to accusing composer duo Vishal-Sheykhar of lifting French musician Jain's Makeba tune, the chatter around Besharam Rang in media is not very positive. But the fans are seemingly unfazed by the controversy and are enjoying the peppy dance number.
Costumes that stirred the controversy The makers are also finding support which is, however, dwarfed when compared to the humungous backlash. A section of supporters says antagonism created by clothing and color is "trivial" and Deepika being trolled for the song is a product of misogyny. Meanwhile, actor-politician Prakash Raj is among the strong voices questioning the rationale behind the Besharam Rang controversy.
Up until Besharam Rang's launch, Pathaan had garnered positive chatter around it. The film stormed the internet with its release of four different units - the date announcement video, King Khan and Deepika's look in the film, and the teaser. There was a unanimously positive response to every asset of the film that was launched so far. Banking on the same hype, the makers came up with a promotional strategy and decided to treat the fans first with the film's music.
King Khan is considered the mastermind when it comes to film promotions. He is the one who introduced the industry with the idea of aggressive promotions. When he is returning to big screens after a self-imposed sabbatical of four years, SRK chalked out a new plan to amp up Pathaan anticipation with music. Who knows if tomorrow "Music first, trailer later" becomes a new norm?
Pathaan is not the first and unfortunately won't be the last film to face uncalled-for criticism. Enthusiastic 'Boycott' activists on social media have turned the attack mode on but as SRK at Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) said, "Positive people in the world are ALIVE."
