emraan hashmi
Harshada Rege (DNA; May 18, 2015)

Movie trailers usually hit the screens two months before the release, after a poster and a teaser, but the trailer of Emraan Hashmi’s film Azhar will be launched a whole year in advance. Ekta Kapoor, who is producing the Mohammed Azharuddin biopic has decided that cricket lovers are her target audience for this film, and aims at catching their attention during the IPL final this year.

Shooting shuru!
It makes perfect sense to release a trailer during a cricket series. The only catch is that the movie is nowhere near completion. The film is slated for a 2016 release. As of now, shooting is on. Prachi Desai has been signed to play the cricketer’s first wife Naureen, while Nargis Fakhri has stepped in to play Sangeeta Bijlani, although she hasn’t begun shooting for the film yet.

Hollywood lessons
Hollywood follows the model of releasing a trailer as early as six months or sometimes even a year before the release. The first trailer is followed by two or more trailers to attract more viewers. This will be the first time in B-Town that a trailer will be released even before the entire film has been completed. No doubt, there’s a lot of curiosity among the audience, let’s see if the movie building up some more by releasing the trailer this early on, works for the film.

The Munnabhai story
The trailer of Munnabhai Chale Amreeka was released post Lage Raho Munnabhai in 2006. The first movie in the series — Munnabhai MBBS — was released in 2003. However, post Sanjay Dutt’s conviction, the movie was shelved. Hirani plans to make the third installment in the series once Sanjay completes his jail term.