Social Media Campaign Review : Sholay 3D Leverages Gamification for its Promotion

If Dhoom 3 grabbed the audience’s attention with the Join the Chase campaign and a game for Windows phones, Sholay, the all time classic now has a single-player game called ‘Sholay: Bullets of Justice’ to promote Sholay 3D.

Objectives :

To engage with audience while helping them relive the magic of the magnum opus that Sholay was and people slip into the characters of Jai and Veeru, the protagonists.

Implementation :

‘Sholay’is a single player finite level based side-scroller game. The game narrates the story of two petty thieves Jai and Veeru who help the honest, noble and disabled veteran cop Baldev Thakur.

You can view the " target="_blank">trailer of the game here

Sholay: Bullets of Justice is available on Android, Facebook and iOS.

Positives :

The good thing about this game is that you are your only competition. The game has 12 levels and is complex and challenging and can be played on mobiles and on all other platforms. All it takes is a simple download and then one can enjoy blasting through Sholay as Jai or Veeru or both.

The game can be played for free and is available on Facebook and mobile platforms thereby widening its reach.

The game has a “wild west” feel to it and also portrays the locales of Ramgarh, as in the movie, with each character having its own stylized animations. The variety of situations given in this game is also good. You can tackle dacoits in a moving goods train or when they harass the villagers for money, you can also help make Holi fun or rescue the fiery Basanati from Gabbar Singh among others. So you won’t get bored playing! This is a really good way of helping the audience relive the magic of Sholay virtually yet with a good dose of realism associated with the film.

Scope for Improvement :

Considering that the game itself is innovative and well designed with lots of online buzz to promote it, there is really nothing I can add to the campaign.

Conclusion :

Sholay as always been revered by the older generation and this game gives youngsters a taste of the movie and its epic proportions. It is in line with the plot of the film and is a contemporary attempt of bringing back a much loved classic. It is in line with the larger than life image that Sholay has always had.