No hoardings, no hype: Inside Nukkad Natak’s street-smart marketing strategy!

Tanmaya Shekhar and Molshri's indie film Nukkad Natak takes an unconventional route to visibility and it might just change indie film marketing!

How does a small independent film compete with big-banner releases in a market dominated by star power and massive marketing budgets? Tanmaya Shekhar and Molshri might have found an answer and it doesn’t involve hoardings, press junkets, or paid media blitzes. After a successful festival run, Nukkad Natak is finally gearing up for its Indian theatrical release on February 27, 2026. But the real story isn’t just the film, it’s how its makers and actors are choosing to make themselves visible in an industry that often sidelines indie voices.

The uphill battle for independent cinema

If the past year proved anything, it’s that independent films are being watched but not always supported. While titles like Homebound, Jugnuma, Sabar Bonda, Humans in the Loop, and Stolen benefited from industry backing or strong production support to get visibility, others weren’t as lucky. Films like Santosh and Punjab 95remain stuck behind curtains that refuse to lift. Even when films do release, distribution becomes the next hurdle. Kanu Behl’s Agra, for instance, struggled with poor show timings and limited theatrical windows. When even filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap face roadblocks (Kennedy never got a theatrical release), the odds for newcomers, especially outsiders feel almost impossible.

Also Read: #KetchupNow: Kanu Behl's Agra being denied access is proof that independent cinema still can’t reach its own audience!

Turning limitation into a strategy

This is where Tanmaya Shekhar and Molshri flip the script. Known for their earlier work, Scenes from a Pandemic, the duo has consistently blended storytelling with sharp self-awareness. They previously built an audience through a two season micro-drama Reel series titled “How to Enter Bollywood”, which humorously and painfully captured the realities of outsiders in Mumbai, those aspiring artists who want to enter the industry but suffer from skyrocketing rents to the endless run at the production houses. 

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Marketing the film like the film itself

True to its name,Nukkad Natak literally means street play; the film’s promotion is taking place on the streets. With no budget for large-scale promotions, the filmmaker and actor, Tanmaya and Molshri are travelling from Mumbai to Kolkata in a traveller, stopping across cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Kota, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and more. Their goal? To personally engage audiences and aim for 100 housefull shows on Day 1. It’s guerrilla marketing, yes but also deeply thematic. After all, what better way to promote a film about street theatre than by performing its spirit on the streets? Whether this ambitious journey pays off will be known on February 27, but for now, it offers something rare in the likes of hope. One that states that when there’s no single blueprint for filmmaking or film marketing, why not this? Because as recent unconventional campaigns like film marketing for Vir Das'Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos have shown, creativity can still exist in promotional part of the film, if we just chose to find a befitting fit. 

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A tribute to an art form born on the streets

From the trailer, Nukkad Natak appears to focus on education, public awareness and India’s socio-political fabric. For anyone familiar with Delhi University’s student culture like me, street plays are more than performance, they’re tools of resistance, education, and dialogue. From women’s rights to the right to education, nukkad nataks have long been a way to reach people outside classrooms and auditoriums. From the trailer, this film feels like a tribute to that tradition of an art form born on the streets, performed for the streets, and now finally finding its way to the screen. It only feels right that its journey to the audience follows the same path.

Sometimes, the most radical thing a film can do isn’t just about what it says but how it chooses to be seen. Maybe Tanmaya and Molshri’s film is just doing that and we're waiting to watch it unfold!

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