One of the best ways for a company to engage a wide customer base these days is to employ a marketing technique known as gamification, and movies have taken notice. This is where elements of an online game are used to promote a product either subtly or in a very direct way. Bollywood and Hollywood production houses have now gotten in on the act, and it is rare for a major film release not to have an accompanying game.
Here are some of the ones that have stood out from the crowd in recent years, as online gamers around India and right across the world clamour for new Bollywood-inspired games, whether they be on mobile, PC or even console.
Krrish
Krrish is one of the best superhero movies that has ever come out of Bollywood production houses, and so it always made sense that a game would be created in its honour.
The game version of Krrish, however, was not developed by a huge gaming company but instead by fans of the movie, who built a mobile game themselves out of frustration at their favourite motion picture not being given an accompanying mobile game. However, things have changed, and movie fans can now find movie-themed games alongside other titles at online casinos like PokerStars Casino. With names titles like Jumanji, Divine Fortune, and Thunder Bear, there’s something for everyone.
While we probably won’t see fan renditions of movies like The Matrix Resurrections starring Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, there is a certain charm to fans developing their very own gaming homages, something that will no doubt continue to happen until production houses realize that fans expect simultaneous releases of movies and games dedicated to fans reliving every scene and song. Until that day comes, there are always movie-themed casino games to enjoy.
Singham
One movie’s handlers who did have their heads screwed on correctly was Singham, which was the runaway action movie hit of 2012, whose release was jointly spearheaded by a brilliant game of the same name.
It is still an incredibly entertaining game to this day, one which allows players to act in exactly the same manner as their favourite characters from the movie, tearing through the streets of Mumbai either on foot or on high-powered motorbikes. You can even ride a bullet. Sound impossible? Seemingly anything is possible in this physics-defying game that packs a real punch.
Don and Don 2
The beauty of the 2006 flick Don and then its sequel Don 2 was that they took Bollywood aesthetics on the road, as Shah Rukh Khan jetted his cameras and effortless swagger to places as far-flung as Berlin.
The second movie’s accompanying game was so big that it was released for PlayStation 2 and borrowed heavily from the sort of gameplay found in other smash-hit games like Grand Theft Auto. There are plenty of walkthrough videos available of the game online in both Hindi and English, just in case people want to get a feel for the game before heading out to get their hands on a copy.
Ghajini
The game that announced the arrival of huge box office success, Ghajini, is often thought of as the first genuine 3D game to be released in honour of a Bollywood film, and it did not disappoint, despite the huge weight of expectation weighing on its developers’ shoulders.
The game closely followed the movie’s plot, which delighted fans of the movie, many of whom went directly from cinemas straight to the first place they could clap eyes on the game. There is no doubt that Ghajini’s game was a seminal title, which set the bar high for all the others that followed in its wake.
Dabang Game
This one is yet another hit from the legend that is Salman Khan. The movie was released in 2010, and the game followed soon thereafter. Rather than trying to compete with other immense open-world games or fiddly mobile games, the Dabang Game had a real arcade feel to it and was very much like playing a Bollywood version of Streets of Rage, which is most certainly a good thing.
This scrolling platformer setup was also perfectly suited to mobile users, meaning that a huge audience could tap into the game and imagine they were Salman Khan, unleashing fury on his rivals and enemies.
