We do not know whether you are aware of it or not, but big things are happening in India right now. No, we’re not talking about elections. Marvel is releasing one of its most anticipated movies Avengers Endgame this month, and the company is going big in its marketing efforts for the film in India.
If you have monitored the recent news, the film’s director Joe Russo visited India for the promotion of the film. From delving into the Indian Thali laid out in the shape of A for Avengers, to enjoying a slurp of Pani Puri, Russo ticked every item on the checklist that would endear him to the Indian audience. Further on, Thor, aka Chris Hamsworth added his own share to the excitement by challenging Russo to try the spicy butter chicken and rogan josh during the latter’s India visit.
“We insisted for India to be the first stop of our press tour because of the incredible response to Infinity War. We had been wanting to come here for a long time. We have heard so much about India,” the director said.”It (India) is incredibly important. It is the fastest growing market in the world for Marvel. It is so important that this is the first stop of the press tour for the film,” Russo said in a group interview. “There was a recording of an Indian audience watching the ‘Infinity War’ and the moment Thor lands, the cheers sounded like a football stadium. We used to play that recording whenever we would get tired (working) on Endgame because it took us two years to make that movie,” said the director.
Apart from this personal high-profile visit, another phenomenon that is making news is the recently launched Marvel Anthem created by talented musician AR Rahman. The anthem is a beautiful fusion of the Indian Dhol with some of the epic music that is the hallmark of Marvel movies, and it moves seamlessly between visuals of excited Indian dhol players and dancers and the visuals from the upcoming film. The anthem too was launched by Russo.
All in all, this is certainly a signal of India’s growing clout for Marvel studios, and we could now push for an Indian superhero in the MCU!
