Chaitanya Prasad: Branding works because humans are, fundamentally, storytellers

The recent launch of When Branding Met the Movies at the World Book Fair in Delhi became a wide-ranging conversation on how cinema, culture and commerce intersect. Written by Chaitanya K.

Prasad along with Zoya Ahmad and Vaishnavie Srinivasan, the book examines branding and how audiences connect with films long before the first frame appears.Drawing from Indian and global cinema, the session explored how actors and filmmakers themselves function as brands, why audiences buy into stories as much as stars, and how films today must balance cultural authenticity with global reach.'Branding is the art of making people feel something about your product, service, or in our case, a movie'During the session, multiple dimensions of branding were unpacked, beginning with the idea that actors themselves function as brands -and in some cases, directors like James Cameron and Christopher Nolan are brands in their own right, shaping audience expectations even before a film is released.“Branding is the art of making people feel something about your product, service, or in our case, a movie, before they’ve even experienced it,” said Chaitanya K. Prasad, a retired senior civil servant who currently serves as Head of Promotion and Outreach at the Ministry of Education, Government of India.He added,"It’s like being a master chef - but instead of mixing flavours, you’re combining emotions, visuals, sounds and experiences to create something that sticks in people’s minds, like a song you hear once and can’t stop humming.

At its core, branding is about giving something—anything - a distinct personality that people can recognise, remember and hopefully fall in love with.”He explained that branding works because humans are, fundamentally, storytellers. Audiences don’t simply buy tickets or products; they buy into narratives about who they are and what they value. In cinema, this instinct is amplified because films themselves are built out of stories.“When you choose a Christopher Nolan film, you’re choosing to be someone who appreciates complex cinema,” he said. “When you buy a Marvel ticket, you’re joining a community of fans.”'How do you speak to everyone while still honouring where the story comes from?'Tracing how branding evolved alongside cinema, he noted that contemporary film marketing has grown increasingly sophisticated. “Branding has gone full 3D chess lately,” he remarked, pointing to how films are now positioned simultaneously across platforms, geographies and audience segments.Turning to global examples, he highlighted how branding enables films to travel across cultures without losing their roots. “The film world is more connected than ever. Movies now release across countries and languages at the same time,” he said. “But that creates a challenge - how do you speak to everyone while still honouring where the story comes from?”Parasite (2019), directed by Bong Joon-ho, offered a model solution.

Though deeply rooted in South Korean class politics, its branding foregrounded universal themes, genre fluidity and bold storytelling. Audiences across the world found points of identification without the film sacrificing its cultural specificity. Its Oscar win, Prasad argued, was not just a triumph for one film, but a milestone for global cinema, proving that authenticity need not be diluted for international success.He cited RRR as another example of culturally grounded global branding. SS Rajamouli’s historical epic leaned unapologetically into spectacle—larger-than-life heroes, heightened emotion and gravity-defying action—while Oscar recognition and streaming visibility carried it far beyond audiences unfamiliar with Telugu cinema. Similarly, The White Tiger (2021), adapted from Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize-winning novel, used branding to frame its sharp socio-political critique in a way that resonated internationally, without softening its Indian context.As films increasingly cross borders, Prasad concluded, branding must walk a careful line - balancing the global with the local, scale with specificity, and reach with rootedness. In today’s cinema ecosystem, he suggested, the films that endure are not those that flatten their identities, but those that know exactly who they are.