Paper cinema amid a pandemic

With the pandemic affecting film promotions, and an important wing of it—flex banners and wall posters—we speak to prominent players in this space to learn about survival strategies and future plans

Bhuvanesh Chandar

(Originally published on 27th June 2021)

On account of the pandemic, film promotions have been reduced to a trickle. Social media, which would usually be swamped with first look posters, motion posters, teaser announcement posters—you get the idea—isn’t exactly a hotbed of promotional activity at the moment. If such be the case with the digital world, what’s going on with those surviving on flex banners and wall posters? Thirumal, whose company prints and assembles flex banners and cut-outs—the likes of which you can see towering in theatres—is an old name in the business. “The how of the business has changed over the decades. The legendary Sivaji Ganesan would once have to go to a studio with full costume and make-up, and sit for hours, as painters would paint the first copy of a poster,” remembers Thirumal.

With promotions these days largely happening on social media, there are still those in the business who believe that no number of retweets or likes can compete with the appeal of a cut-out or a well-designed wall poster. Mariyappan, the proprietor of Albert Cinemas, deems this business “immortal”. The question is, how are these business surviving the digital boom, and of course, the Covid onslaught?

While billboards and theatres posters are handled by businessmen like…

Read the full feature here:

https://www.cinemaexpress.com/stories/trends/2021/jun/27/paper-cinema-amid-a-pandemic-25193.html