Vijay’s Leo: the right way to market South Indian films in the UK

Ahimsa Entertainment’s latest film project, Leo, has been breaking internet and sales records days before it’s official release. They have changed how South Indian films are marketed in the UK and across Europe, for the better.

Leo, is the highly anticipated Tamil language action thriller, starring the popular Indian actor “Thalapathy” Vijay, direction by Lokesh Kanagaraj, and music by Anirudh Ravichander. Starring alongside Vijay, is Trisha, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun, Gautham Vasudev Menon and many more. Does it really get bigger than this?

Releasing on the 19th October, the film is being distributed by Ahimsa Entertainment, founded by UK based Vithurs and Sudharsan Natesan.

In a tweet, Ahimsa Entertainment posted, “We’ve just rewritten the history books! #Leo’s Day 1 UK box office now stands as the ALL TIME RECORD for any Indian film. A roaring applause for Thalapathy Vijay!”

Leo is screening in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi at Cineworld cinemas across the UK. It will also receive the biggest European release with a total of 37 countries via regional partners and cinemas.

The duo have left no stone unturned, introducing pre-sales 40 days in advance. As of today, Leo reached 82,500 UK pre-sales, with popular social media influencers including Senti Bee commissioned to drive further awareness.

Leo adverts have been spotted on London buses. Out-of-home adverts, a popular strategy by Bollywood film distributors in the UK, is now being implemented for South Indian film marketing. One hundred of the iconic red London buses will display Leo adverts across its breadth, on several routes across central and greater London, and afar as Crawley.

Now for the icing on the cake, and most likely another first by Ahimsa! They have teamed up with four Europe based independent Tamil creatives for a music video to support the film’s marketing campaign. Rappers, Tha Mystro (France) and Mc Sai (UK), alongside music producer MJ Melodies (UK) and cinematographer Saanmuu (UK), were commissioned for the project.

Titled Annan Adhiradi, the Leo promo song and music video has been released through Sony Music South’s YouTube channel and has already racked up 1.2 million views!

Leo premieres tonight in London.