Ola rides the ‘Baasha’ fever

The name ‘Rajinikanth’ is synonymous to God in the southern cinema. He is by far the most popular film actor of the last century in South India. His popularity has mainly been attributed to his uniquely styled dialogues and idiosyncrasies in the films he does, along with the philanthropic work he undertakes. The fandom he commands can be compared to no one.

While he has appeared in over 150 films in his career spanning roughly 3 decades, Rajinikanth’s Baasha was one of the defining films of the 90s. Released in 1995, Baasha went on to become the highest grossing Tamil film of the year, from Rajinikanth's introduction song to Raghuvaran's haunting voice, Baasha has a cult following for several reasons. The iconic film has had a very strong influence on modern commercial blockbusters across the South Indian film industry.

Naturally the re-release of the digitally re-mastered version of the classic film has been creating quite a buzz in the Rajinikanth’s home state – Tamil Nadu. Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation, has uniquely branded its ‘Auto’ category with the cult classic. Baasha is the story of an auto driver who avoids violence, but is forced to reveal his true identity which is that of a dreaded gangster based out of Mumbai. In the re-mastered version of the movie Rajinikanth is shown to be driving an ‘Ola auto’. Additionally, Ola has also organized the first ever ‘Auto Driver Partner Mela’ in the city of Chennai titled, ‘Ola Baasha Mela’ in a bid to support several aspiring entrepreneurs in Chennai to become ‘Baasha’ by owning and driving their own autos.

The three-day event introduced the city's potential auto drivers to Ola’s platform, and gave them the opportunity to purchase auto rickshaws at subsidized rates as well as avail several benefits such as free vehicle insurance, and garage services. The first ever Mela also gave many existing auto rickshaw drivers the opportunity to become micro-entrepreneurs by adding their autos to Ola’s fleet at a lower cost, and along with a lot of other benefits.

Over 25,000 existing and potential auto driver partners attended this gala event in Chennai. The three day Mela saw a host of entertaining and fun activities, and food stalls arranged for the families of the Driver Partners. The Ola Auto Driver Partners also, won Baasha movie tickets at the event.

Marketing
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Marketing