It has only been four days that curtains were brought on Mumbai Marathon that Jaipur is now going to host marathon from the current year. Salman Khan does the launch of Jaipur marathon and it is being used to promote launch of VEER as well. Aamir Khan must be pleased with this effort, as the unconventional approaches to market a film, as he initiated with 3 IDIOTS has taken off. Facilitating factor in Salman Khan's initiative is Beena Kak, who was the screen mother of Salman Khan in MAINE PYAAR KYUN KIYA and she is currently the Minister of Tourism in Rajasthan Government.
Rajasthan as a matter of fact needed this kind of a push to involve the public as it is already repository of cultural extravaganzas that have an annual periodicity but an initiative to involve general public in a big way would become possible with the launch of Jaipur Marathon. As the common public would be involved in a big way, owing to the length the Marathon would cover, there could not have been a better platform to create publicity for VEER without incurring much publicity cost by Salman Khan, as her screen mother is there to provide the logistical support.
The vector for initiative has indeed the potential to push the footfalls of tourists into Jaipur and Rajasthan through this initiative as it is the perfect time when Jaipur is studded with tourists, and this category also includes marathon aficionados as well. Besides, either as by plan or through sheer chance, VEER is a film that has a vital component of the content line being associated with English people. If the pitch of VEER is aligned along these lines, Salman Khan could indeed get captive audience for VEER even in countries like France, which otherwise is not a circuit for Hindi films. France is being quoted as an example as tourists from France come quite in large numbers to Jaipur. May be, Salman could think of a sequel to VEER with some French connection. France still does not figure much in the Indian cinematic oeuvre though it is one of the most culturally rich cities. Anticipation of Marathon in conjunction with publicity of VEER is therefore fraught with exciting possibilities.