Luxury car brands drive into Bollywood movies with in-film placements

Kolkata: In 3 Idiots, two of Aamir Khan�s friends drive the length and breadth of India searching for him in a red XC90 R-Design, a variant of Volvo�s latest luxury sports utility vehicle. Bollywood may not have found its own Aston Martin DB5, a la Bond, made famous in James Bond flicks from Goldfinger to Casino Royale, but the Hindi film industry shares a long history with the Beetle, the Mercedes, the Cadillac or the good old Amby.

In-film car branding as a marketing tool began in earnest few years ago with the Tata Safari in Ram Gopal Varma�s Road. Volvo, a late entrant in the Indian car sector, makes its first appearance in Bollywood with a red SUV, priced at Rs 58 lakh. It was launched last October in India.

�We are delighted to be part of a big banner Bollywood movie,� says Paul De Voijs, MD, Volvo Auto India.

�The movie and its lead characters emanate vibrancy, energy and sportiness � exactly the qualities represented by our XC90 R-Design. The move is an ideal integration of our brand and the movie,� he adds.

Bollywood is moving places, according to brand expert Harish Bijoor. �In the early days, in-film placements were all about a brand of tea painted on a tea shop in a fight sequence, or the banner of a brand of pan masala on stage when the college event was being filmed. But now things have moved on. The price tag of products that are being placed has progressively moved up from a Rs-14 packet of branded tea to a Rs 33-lakh Mercedes Benz today,� he says.

But we are still nowhere near Bond films. Or are we? �We have not reached the Aston Martin stage as yet in such placements, but watch out soon for a Tata Nano in a film,� says Bijoor.

Analysts say one must watch out for the new Beetle as well. Volkswagen launched the Beetle in India on December 4, pricing it at Rs 20.45 lakh. Bijoor says Herbie, The Love Bug � Herbie is an anthropomorphic VW Beetle � can have an Indian avatar, �which will be good for the car and good for the film that uses it first as well�.

Amitabh Bachchan famously serenaded a yellow Beetle, christening it Rampyari, in Akela; Madhubala was in an Austin A-40 Somerset in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, and SRK drove the Hyundai Santro in Main...