When social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have become an essential part of everyday life of many, can the Bollywood industry be far behind in using them to reach out to people?

The social networks are the most happening places these days and the stars in the Hindi film industry have started using them as a promotional tool too for their films.

So we have Aamir Khan chatting live on Facebook with his fans about his film 3 Idiots and Amitabh Bachchan playing card games to promote his film Teen Patti.

“Promoting films via these sites are an attempt to attract the entertainment consuming audience between the age of 15 and 30. The youth of today is hooked on to social networking sites and this is the best way to reach them,” said Rahul Razdan, Vice President-Communication & Gaming, Ibibo.

The site allows six players to play Teen Patti live simultaneously with Bachchan on a virtual table while sitting anywhere in India. According to Razdan, this act of promoting the film stands to benefit the site as well.

“Teen Patti is an Indian card game which we had launched on our site few months ago. But when this film came along, the number of players went up by 100 per cent. When it is somebody like Mr Bachchan inviting the youngsters to play, traffic on the site definitely increases,” Razdan told PTI. Alongwith Ibibo, other sites like Bigadda and Zapak are also making a mark in marketing Bollywood movies.

The quality and sincerity of his films have won him recognition and praise from the very best of Indian filmmakers including Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal.

Yavar who has been living in Britain for the last 60 years was born in Charkhari, a Hindu princely state during British India in 1920 and entered the British Indian Army in 1942.

A year later, he joined the Army’s Film Unit in Calcutta as an officer cameraman and during the period of Partition, his services were loaned to Pakistan to produce and direct the film The Birth of Pakistan.

He refused the offer and after resigning accompanied his wife and son to England in March 1949 and started working with BBC in the Urdu Section of the Eastern Service.

Joining BBC Television News as a news film cameraman in 1955, Yavar carried out assignments in Africa, Caribbean and Middle East. In 1963, Yavar started as an independent filmmaker and set out on a filming safari, going overland from London to New Delhi shooting for India! My India!.

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