Salman Khan's Jai Ho strikes a platinum pre-release, says outdoor media king Yogesh Lakhani

Have you been seeing posters of Jai Ho in every nook and corner of Mumbai? From hoardings to railway platforms, Salman's movie has been making its presence felt everywhere. And the force behind it is Bollywood's favourite go-to-man for outdoor film publicity - Yogesh Lakhani. Yogesh's company Bright has installed a record 75 hoardings in Mumbai for Jai Ho. Says Yogesh, “I have mounted 75 hoardings for Salman bhai's movie at all vital locations of Mumbai.” Outdoor publicity is the new buzz word among filmmakers, feels Yogesh. An area of publicity which was earlier neglected, today accounts and brings in maximum publicity for the movie pre and post its release. And Yogesh alone has been prolific in handling the majority of outdoor publicity work for Bollywood movies. “Last year, out of the 200 movies that were released, I handled 120 of them. I did the publicity for Dhoom 3, Krrish3, Chennai Express all of which turned out to be the big blockbusters,” says Yogesh. Talking about the trends observed in terms of Bollywood outdoor publicity Yogesh reveals, “2013 was a good year for Bollywood. Lots of big budget movies were made and this also meant a simultaneous jump in the budget and number of hoardings.” 2014 may not have started with a bang for Bollywood but Yogesh feels as far as outdoor publicity goes numbers will be stable. “Outdoor publicity also depends on the starcast of the film. Bigger the starcast, greater will be the number of hoardings.” Well, given that whatever Yogesh touched turned into gold last year, we get a blockbuster feeling for Jai Ho, as well.