By Updesh Kapur /Doha

Last night, all the bells and whistles came out in Dubai for a glitzy evening to remember marking the climax of a marketer’s dream.
If you’re a movie buff, it was an event not to be missed.
Almost three years after Dubai hosted Tom Cruise for the world premiere of the fourth instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise, the emirate came out with its latest blockbuster offering.
Cruise made headlines for scaling the iconic Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, during filming of the Hollywood action thriller.
Another iconic Dubai landmark, the luxury Atlantis hotel on Dubai’s man-made Palm island is now at the centre of Bollywood’s latest movie featuring the Middle East’s most marketable destination.
Dubai last night staged another world first – the international premiere of the newest and highest profile film launch Bollywood has ever seen, breaking record after record before the film has even been released.
The star-studded cast of Happy New Year jetted into the United Arab Emirates for a whistle-stop visit, the highlight being the red carpet launch of Hindi cinema’s latest flick at the Atlantis.
Happy New Year is the ultimate underdog story where a team of misfits win the love of millions in their quest to pull off the biggest diamond heist ever. And yes, you’ve guessed, the Atlantis is at the heart of this action comedy drama that features the usual Bollywood masala mix of music, dance and glamour. The movie chronicles the tale of a gang of robbers who masquerade as contestants in a dance competition being held in Dubai. Some of the most crucial scenes were shot at the ice rink in Dubai Mall and swimming with the dolphins at the Atlantis.
Dubai tourism chiefs have never had it so better. An emirate that is renowned for inventive attractions and great incentives to lure visitors from around the world. Dubai secured another feather in its cap by offering the producers of Happy New Year support to facilitate filming.
And it’s the tri-partnership of the Dubai Department of Tourism, Commerce and Marketing, home-grown airline Emirates and the Dubai Film and TV Commission that will see the benefits of the film’s phenomenal global marketing campaign.
The Happy New Year marketing bandwagon has been on a roll for over a year since Dubai became home to the 200-plus film production crew for a month. Destination marketing has been propelled to a new level.
The film features a bankable cast, including the affable Shah Rukh Khan and actress Deepika Padukone, a pair that has earned box-office success with their only other two films together, Om Shanti Om and, more recently, Chennai Express.
The film marks the return to the screen of Shah Rukh Khan after a gap of over a year so fans are waiting with awe to see him back. And with a cast featuring Abhishek Bachchan, son of Bollywood icon Amitabh, playing a key role alongside versatile actor Boman Irani, the scene is set for an intriguing film.
Add choreographer-turned director Farah Khan, who enjoyed success with Khan and Padukone in Om Shanti Om seven years ago, Happy New Year is taking to new heights, already notching a number of firsts ahead of the official launch.
The film’s social media marketing campaign began as long as 10 months ago with barely 50% of the movie completed.
It was the first Bollywood film trailer to be released on WhatsAp and Facebook, with over 1.5mn views within 24 hours through the social media channel.
The trailer, out on August 15, India’s Independence Day, is said to have generated 10mn views in a single day across all social media platforms. Digital media has been the driving force behind the promotional efforts that have also included the customary TV and print interviews, as well as the entire cast hogging TV shows across India such as the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and the ever popular Comedy Nights With Kapil which saw them secure an unprecedented three hours of uninterrupted publicity on the weekend programme.
There have also been the usual cover stories in a range of Indian magazines, including health and film titles, featuring the faces and bodies of the movie’s stars.
The film’s stellar cast recently went on a promotional tour of Canada, the US and the UK performing concerts in 11 cities over a period of almost three weeks. The two-and-a-half hour music, song, dance and comedy shows – promoted as SLAM! – to sell-out crowds were the first of their kind to specifically promote one film.
The tours were supported by an active Twitter and Facebook feed, with the actors aggressively posting content prior, during and after the shows and following through with the current wave of promotional activities.
Again, a first on such scale for a Bollywood movie launch.
Shah Rukh Khan’s home-grown production company Red Chillies Entertainment which produced the film, is said to have recovered the costs of the movie through the SLAM! Tour alone.
As one of the smartest businessmen in the film industry, the man they call King Khan came up with the idea to promote Happy New Year in international markets through the live stage shows.
With money earned from the tour and the sale of broadcasting and music rights totalling in excess of $30mn, it has achieved record figures, already surpassing the $24mn reported film production costs – all before the film’s release and takings from box office receipts.
Tonight, a day after the Dubai premiere, Happy New Year goes on general release on the auspicious occasion of Diwali – a great marketing opportunity at a time when families and friends rejoice and celebrate the Hindu festival.
Diwali is a celebration of light, good over evil and bringing wealth and happiness into the home.
In another first, Happy New Year becomes the widest Bollywood movie release of all time with over 6,000 screens showing the film in cinema halls worldwide from day one – this represents a 15% increase on the previous highest, the Abhishek Bachchan and Aamir Khan starrer Dhoom 3.
Through a partnership with the acclaimed Indian film distributor Yash Raj Films, Red Chillies will see the movie hit 5,000 screens across India and a further 1,000 globally.
Dubai and Doha will not be left out. With such a large Indian diaspora and growing love of Hindi movies by Arabs, Happy New Year is set to fill cinema halls during their screenings from tonight. According to PVR, one of India’s leading multiplex cinema chains in India, Happy New Year will be a success purely because of its star appeal and the great advance marketing efforts.
“Shah Rukh Khan is a marketer’s delight and you can see that in the promotions of the film across different media,” says PVR.
“You cannot get a better combination in Bollywood. Happy New Year marks the return of Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone after Chennai Express, and Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan after hits like Om Shanti Om and Main Hoon Na, and it’s the occasion of Diwali.”
One box office analyst went on: “Wide release strategies are typical for major films with blockbuster potential. Distributors book a film in a huge number of screens to record maximum results due to the festive occasion of Diwali.
“Happy New Year’s release strategy is the widest in the history of cinema and it’s not only being released in the original language, but also dubbed in regional languages Tamil and Telugu.”
For Shah Rukh Khan, Dubai played an integral role in the film and choice of location. “It was a creative decision to choose Dubai because in our film we needed to show a very cosmopolitan city which had the most beautiful hotel in the world, big cars and of course great people,” he says.
“It was like choosing the city for the Olympics. For us there was only one city and that was Dubai.”
Judging by the advance promotional efforts, it is hard to see how the movie cannot be a runaway success and give Dubai yet another massive promotional push and edge over other destinations.

- Updesh Kapur is a PR & communications professional, columnist, aviation, hospitality and travel analyst, social and entertainment writer. He can be followed on twitter @updeshkapur