Posters are often our first introduction to films. And the impression we take away from these posters is quite hard to change. A good poster gives us an idea about the film’s cast, the mood of the film, and will engage the interest of the viewer. A bad one keeps the viewer away. In this age of motion posters and tech-savvy audiences, not everybody has cottoned on to this rather simple idea. Several films this year have had posters that were so poor, even our beleaguered reviewers (who are contractually obliged to watch all films, good poster or no) didn’t turn up to watch them.
A selection of the movie posters that hurt our eyes this year.
Sowcarpettai – Telugu poster
Sowcarpettai’s poster did manage to dissuade a whole lot of movie going public who just did not want to watch zombie Srikanth ‘ear-kiss’ Raai Laxmi.
Those who weren’t dissuaded by this poster, ended up walking out of the interval, our resident critic tells us.
Enakku Innoru Peru Irukku
It’s sacrilege, really, to use a popular Rajinikanth scene to promote a film. And when that film stars GV Prakash Kumar…well that really draws our collective ire. What’s odd about this poster, though, is the excessive airbrushing done to GV, resulting in a caricature. The man has enough trolls bothering him, he didn’t really need to be trolled by the film’s promotion team too, you know.
Nayagi – Telugu Poster
If the wardrobe choices of Trisha Krishnan does not dissuade one from Nayagi, the poster sure will. Poor makeup, poorer photoshop skills, worst choice of movie still. All in all, this was an all-round disaster.
Vennilavin Arangetram
The film’s on-set photos are lurid indeed. If you’re not privy to such up-close information about films and such, this poster kind of does the trick.
Hello Naan Pei Pesuren
It’s the era of the man-child, that much we’ve been told again and again. We didn’t really need a poster to re-inforce this. But the folks behind Hello Nan Pei Pesuren thought it would be grand if the men in the film literally pose as children. This particular image we most definitely did not want in our heads!
Enakku Vaaitha Adimaigal
Tamil cinema continues to ridicule the LGBT community through its films. Enakku Vaaitha Adimaigal is probably yet another film in the same mould. For the film’s poster has a group of men huddled around actor Jai. Beyond being unbelievable, the poster also seems to be propagating a stereotypical view of LGBT people.
What’s more, the film’s promotions also seem to be geared towards exploiting this angle for hilarity.
Aadi
So, our directors have pretty much exhausted every romantic element out there. But the makers of Aadi went one step further, in order to stay away from stereotypes. We must give them points for creativity atleast.
Miruthan
For a new initiative, Miruthan did not fare that well at the promotions department. The film’s posters were all victims of bad photoshop. Hands clutched at Jayam Ravi as he stood in front of buildings, zoomed away on his bike, and tried to romance his munnal kadhali.
Singam 3
Suriya and his Singam series have become quite predictable. Despite being money churners, the film’s makers seem to spend barely anything on the promotional material (though they did pay a lot for those awful songs).
Singam 3’s posters equalled the other two films in the series – in that they were all bland and uninspiring. If it weren’t for Suriya’s beautiful growl, nobody would watch this film.
Also, guys, bad photoshop!
Aranmanai 2
Another repeat offender is Sundar C, who continues to recycle content/actors/photos for his movies as well as their posters.
Heroines with big pottu. Check.
Yellow background. Check.
Goddess Kali in the background. Check.
Even a paint by numbers artwork of Trisha would’ve been a better poster than this one.
