Help Saif please Deepika in ‘Love Aaj Kal’

The movie stars may be the role models but handset owners are now calling the shots. After idolising actors for years, film buffs are literally getting into the roles. The medium is the cell phone. The format: games. So as Harry Potter returned to weaken Lord Voldemort’s reign of terror in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Muggles, the non-magical people, assisted him in the task on their handsets. Saif Ali Khan, meanwhile, seeks your help to please his love interest in Love Aaj Kal and action-oriented gamers are fighting the bad guys for Aamir Khan in Ghajini.

“In a movie, one is the viewer. Games allow for participation and being in control,” says Ajit Kashyap from Indiagames. At his office in Mumbai, a team of developers is working on a game based on Kaminey. A few months ago they were pouring over the script of Dev D and Ghajini. “The games provide value added service and help promote the movie,” says Siddhartha Roy, COO, digital and allied businesses, Hungama digital media. Recently, for a Kambakkht Ishq game, Roy had gamers participate in a race and compete with Akshay Kumar. The film may have tanked but the portal recovered its money within two days of release. “The peak period for the game is at the time of release of the movie, but the popularity is not completely dependent on the film. An interesting game will continue to do well even once the hype around a movie has died down,” says Dippak Khurana, Head, content and international business, Mauj Mobile. He gives us the example of Drona. “The game was a success while the movie was a complete disaster,” he notes.

The competition, though, is stiff. In the gaming sector, games made out of classic Hindi movies vie for a market share with recent releases. If Mobile2Win has Lakshya and Rang De Basanti in its kitty, it also has Sholay. On the Jump Games website Maine Pyar Kiya and Bombay to Goa find place alongside Hanuman Returns and mobile games featuring actors like Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu and R Madhavan. “Old classics appeal due to their iconic status and games based on individual stars are designed in accordance with their image and personality,” says Salil Bhargava, CEO of Jump Games. Kashyap adds, “The reach of Bollywood films is huge but Hollywood finds an audience in urban and semi-urban cities.” His firm is the India partner of the international company Electronic Arts and has titles like Harry Potter, Terminator, Star Wars and The Da Vinci Code among others. The route to experience the star life is meanwhile, fairly uncomplicated. Each game can be downloaded by sending a sms of the game code to a particular number provided by the service operator or the gaming website. The charges could vary from Rs 50 to 150. “It depends on a variety of factors, including the premium of the title,” says Khurana, who offered Drona for download at Rs 99 and Ab Tak Chhappan for Rs 49. Is the small screen big enough to ensure that gamers remain engrossed? “Graphics are created keeping the size of the mobile screen in mind and the storage requirement is kept to a minimum because of lower memory capacity of cell phones,” says Kashyap. “The market will expand with the rise in number of cell phone users,” notes Rajiv Hiranandani, co-founder and country head for Mobile2Win. It’s time to experience the star world on your cell phone.