By RICHA DUBEY
Indiantelevision.com Team

(14 June 2007 11:05 pm)

MUMBAI:Filmy is geared to heavily promote the television premiere of its recently acquired films Umrao Jaan, Guru and Nishabd, with a host of theme based activations.

Prior to the television screenings the channel is geared to unveil promotional initiatives in a big way. Filmy business head Ashutosh said, "We are planning a lot of below the line activities for Guru and Umrao Jaan."

From 14 to 27 June, Filmy will conduct a special shayari contest called Arz Kiya Hai, for the viewers to express their feelings for Aishwarya Rai in a shayari. To participate, viewers can SMS Umrao followed by the shayari to 9090 or through an email on umrao@myfilmy.com.

The best eight shayaris will be selected and aired in the ad breaks during the screening of the movie.

Elaborating on these efforts Ashutosh added, "Promotions are designed on the theme that these movies are based. Umrao Jaan being the first in the category, we have planned many other things."

As a part of this promotional initiative, the channel has organised a Mujra for the trade including agencies Madison, Mindshare and Rediffusion in Mumbai and Delhi.

Apart from this, on ground activities have also been lined up including road shows and distribution of merchandise to promote the film.

Talking about the initiative, Filmy marketing and content head Shailesh Kapoor said, "Through this contest we are getting our audiences intimately involved with the protagonist and thus increasing the movie viewing experience."

Both the Abhishek and Aishwarya starrers will be promoted heavily as the premiere dates approach, whereas Nishabd will only be promoted in news and print.

"Nishabd is a smaller brand for a TV viewer in comparison with the other two therefore we will promote it through TV and print," added Ashutosh.