‘The Paradise’ To ‘Pathaan’: Indian Films That Rewrote The Marketing Playbook
From skipped trailers to stars avoiding interviews, these Indian films found unexpected ways to build curiosity before release.
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There is a familiar countdown to a big film: first look, teaser, trailer, song launch, cast interviews, city tours and enough social-media clips to make a viewer feel they have already seen the movie. But some filmmakers have decided that the missing piece might be the best advertisement. They have withheld trailers, taken their actors off the publicity circuit, planted a fictional missing-person case in the real world and even turned cinema staff into walking reminders of a star's hairstyle.
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The results have been just as varied as the ideas: a few campaigns preceded extraordinary hits, while others proved that mystery alone cannot sell a ticket. That question is back with Nani’s ‘The Paradise’, which arrived without a trailer on September 24. Its circumstances are important: Nani said the team needed to finish the film and could not divert key crew members to cut a trailer.
As ‘The Paradise’ enters the conversation, we decided to look at the film’s unusual marketing campaign followed by several Indian releases that found other ways to ask audiences to show up.
1. The Paradise (2026)
For a major Telugu release, skipping the trailer sounds like an exercise in suspense. Nani, however, offered a more revealing explanation. With shooting and the final cut still being completed shortly before release, he said pulling director Srikanth Odela, the composer and other crew away to make a trailer would take time from the movie itself. He explicitly rejected the idea that the team simply thought its pre-release buzz made a trailer unnecessary. ‘The Paradise’ still had songs, promotional appearances and an early paid screening; its unusual choice concerned the full pre-release trailer, not publicity altogether. Starring Nani alongside Raghav Juyal, Sonali Kulkarni and Kayadu Lohar, it opened on September 24, 2026, after September 23 paid previews. By September 25, Sacnilk listed Rs 76.90 crore worldwide from the opening period, including those previews.
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2. Mollywood Times (2026)
Most filmmakers ask you to watch their promotional videos. Abhinav Sunder Nayak made a rather different request ahead of ‘Mollywood Times’: come in knowing as little as possible; if you can, avoid even the teaser that already exists. He confirmed that the Malayalam film would have no pre-release trailer, turning the unknown into part of the pitch. Naslen leads the film, with Sangeeth Prathap and Sharafudheen also in the cast. It opened on June 5, 2026, and collected Rs 18.50 crore worldwide.
3. Dhurandhar (2025)
Ranveer Singh was the headliner, yet his face was hardly the organising principle of Dhurandhar's lengthy trailer. It introduced characters and atmosphere before giving him much screen time, withholding a tidy explanation of their connections. Marketer Varun Gupta later said the team deliberately kept the campaign restrained and focused on the film's material instead of sending its star through the customary interview and college-visit circuit. That does not mean ‘Dhurandhar’ had no trailer or songs: it used both, just with a different emphasis. Aditya Dhar's spy thriller, co-starring Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal and Sara Arjun, opened on December 5, 2025. Sacnilk put its final worldwide gross at Rs 1,307.35 crore.
4. Saiyaara (2025)
How do you introduce two new romantic leads without sending them to every microphone in town? Mohit Suri's ‘Saiyaara’ let audiences meet Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda through the film's songs, teaser and trailer while keeping the pair away from the usual pre-release interviews and promotional events. Mohit Suri said their absence was a collective, deliberate choice, informed in part by his earlier experience launching newcomers. The distinction matters: their faces were not hidden from the marketing; they were absent from the conventional celebrity-publicity circuit. The romance drama opened on July 18, 2025, and the bet on music and curiosity preceded a Rs 570.33 crore worldwide haul.
5. Pathaan (2023)
After Shah Rukh Khan's absence from leading film roles, the industry might have expected a months-long television-and-interview blitz. Director Siddharth Anand said the ‘Pathaan’ team had other plans: keep SRK's public appearances and cast media interactions limited before the release, allowing anticipation to build until audiences saw him on screen. The film absolutely did have a teaser, trailer, songs and a visible marketing campaign; what it largely skipped was the standard pre-release star tour. Deepika Padukone and John Abraham joined SRK in the action thriller, released on January 25, 2023. Its worldwide gross stood at Rs 1,055 crore. After the opening, the stars did meet the press.
6. Gold (2022)
Alphonse Puthren's ‘Gold’ shows the hazard of calling every quiet campaign a masterstroke. The Malayalam film, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Nayanthara, released a teaser months in advance. Then, as its December 1, 2022 opening approached, the expected follow-up largely failed to materialise. The Indian Express noted the lack of further promos, a theatrical trailer, songs and cast interviews, and wondered aloud what had happened. It also reported that Prithviraj, a co-producer normally active in promoting his films, said little publicly about this one. Those observations establish a sparse campaign; they do not establish why it went quiet. Sacnilk placed the film’s worldwide run at Rs 11.30 crore.
7. Ittefaq (2017)
When a murder mystery rests on competing versions of the same night, a routine interview can become a spoiler minefield. The producers of Abhay Chopra's ‘Ittefaq’ kept leads Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna away from the usual promotional round, while the team urged viewers not to reveal the ending. There were a trailer and a social media campaign, so claims that the movie had no marketing overshoot the evidence. The restraint was directed at cast interviews and advance disclosures; a contemporary report also noted the absence of a media screening. Released on November 3, 2017, the thriller grossed Rs 51.47 crore worldwide.
8. Kabali (2016)
It is hard to complain about a missing trailer when the teaser supplies Rajinikanth walking into frame and a passenger jet carries his face across the sky. Pa. Ranjith's ‘Kabali’ leaned on a brief, enormously popular teaser instead of releasing a conventional full trailer ahead of its July 22, 2016 premiere. AirAsia also wrapped an aircraft in the film's imagery, making the marketing impossible to miss at the airport. Radhika Apte, Winston Chao and Dhansika featured alongside Rajinikanth. Box Office India put the film at Rs 320 crore worldwide.
9. Premam (2015)
Before the internet met Malar, Alphonse Puthren declined to introduce the movie with either a teaser or a trailer. ‘Premam’ followed Nivin Pauly's George through three chapters of love, but the identities and appeal of Sai Pallavi, Anupama Parameswaran and Madonna Sebastian were left for audiences to discover in the theatre. Music and word of mouth did the heavy lifting after the May 29, 2015 release. Reportedly, the film made around Rs 60 crore worldwide.
10. PK (2014)
Most first-look posters try to tell you what a film is about. The first image for Rajkumar Hirani's ‘PK’ instead showed Aamir Khan holding a transistor in front of himself, and an immediate national guessing game followed. Aamir Khan said the team planned a succession of posters, each revealing part of the story while deliberately confusing viewers; talking cinema standees were also announced as part of the campaign. There was later a conventional teaser, so this was a poster-first strategy, not a no-trailer release. The film, co-starring Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjay Dutt and Boman Irani, opened on December 19, 2014 and grossed Rs 792 crore worldwide.
11. Kahaani (2012)
If you spotted a notice for Arnab Bagchi in Mumbai in early 2012, you might have thought somebody was searching for a real missing person. The publicity team for Sujoy Ghosh's ‘Kahaani’ put up missing-person posters for the character and sent Vidya Balan, dressed as her pregnant protagonist, into a busy railway station to look for him. The campaign brought the thriller's central question into daily life; the makers also faced criticism over the use of missing-person imagery. Parambrata Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui joined Vidya Balan in the film, which released on March 9, 2012, and grossed Rs 79.20 crore worldwide. It was publicity staged as the mystery itself, though the film also had normal posters and trailers.
12. 3 Idiots (2009)
The hero of ‘3 Idiots’ disappears, so Aamir Khan gave audiences a real-world search of their own. During the promotional campaign, he travelled in disguise, turning up in unexpected places; at a pre-wedding celebration in Punjab, he arrived as a supposed documentary filmmaker with a goatee, a curly wig and a fake gold tooth. The bride's father reportedly recognised him anyway. The tour mirrored the question driving Rajkumar Hirani's film: where is Rancho? R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Boman Irani co-starred. Released on December 25, 2009, the film is listed by Sacnilk at Rs 350 crore worldwide. Aamir Khan also did conventional promotional appearances, but few were as closely tied to the story as his disappearing act.
13. Dev.D (2009)
An invitation in a glossy envelope would have looked out of place for Anurag Kashyap's ‘Dev.D’. Ahead of the premiere, guests received a free co**om with their pass, accompanied by the tagline “Come fall in lust”: a cheeky introduction to a film that pushed s*x, excess and self-destruction into a familiar literary tale. Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin led the cast. Released on February 6, 2009, the film made Rs 19.80 crore worldwide. This was not a film that dispensed with trailers or ordinary publicity; it gave the normally formal premiere invitation a personality that matched the movie.
14. Ghajini (2008)
You did not have to buy a ticket for A.R. Murugadoss's ‘Ghajini’ to encounter its most recognisable image. Ahead of release, cinema ushers and other staff adopted the close-cropped, scarred hairstyle worn by Aamir Khan's memory-impaired protagonist, including at screenings of another film, ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’. Aamir Khan later explained that the team wanted those haircuts to function like a trailer. Asin, Jiah Khan and Pradeep Rawat also starred in ‘Ghajini’, which opened on December 25, 2008. Sacnilk put its worldwide theatrical gross at Rs 194.10 crore.
Honourable Mentions
While these our top picks, several other Indian movies have broke away from the traditional marketing playbook. ‘Dhoom 3’ kept some of its biggest attractions under wraps: Aamir Khan skipped the usual television-show and mall visits, while the makers promoted most song videos with 30-second glimpses instead of showing them in full. Vijay Krishna Acharya’s film, also starring Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra, opened on December 20, 2013, and made Rs 558 crore worldwide.
Nag Ashwin’s ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ took another route, introducing Prabhas’s Bhairava and his vehicle Bujji through a two-part animated prelude on Prime Video before the film’s June 27, 2024 release. The film, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, grossed Rs 1,042.25 crore worldwide. It had conventional promotions too; the animated story was the departure. In Malayalam cinema, Jithu Madhavan’s ‘Aavesham’ arrived on April 11, 2024, with teasers but, according to pre-release reporting, no full trailer; the Fahadh Faasil starrer made Rs 154.80 crore worldwide. Sathyan Anthikad’s Jomonte Suvisheshangal likewise opened without a trailer on January 19, 2017, although audiences had seen a promo and song teasers. The Dulquer Salmaan, Mukesh, Anupama Parameswaran and Aishwarya Rajesh film earned around Rs 43 crore, as reported by Filmibeat.
