Desperate times? Publicity Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega

B-Town's PR cell seems to be in overdrive. From getting stars to sell jalebis to encouraging threesomes, nothing seems sacrosanct in this business of film promotion

Films have never been this aggressively marketed in India.

After getting even the biggest Bollywood stars to market their upcoming movies on multiple TV shows and social networking sites like Twitter and Face Book, PR agencies are getting even more creative (read: bizarre) with their promotional activities.

Shahid Kapoor reportedly turned weather forecaster for a day to promote his forthcoming film Mausam.

Desperate publicity stunts seem to have become the latest trend to hit the Hindi film industry. We bring you a list of the silliest PR stunts in the recent past...

During the publicity of Bodyguard, Kareena felicitated the bodyguards of most Bollywood stars barring Shah Rukh Khan's.

Since Salman is in America getting medical attention, his real-life bodyguard Shera was used to promote the film.

He wore the same uniform Sallu had on in the movie and played Kareena Kapoor's bodyguard to the hilt at all events.

John Abraham and Genelia's accidental marriage on the sets of Force was a farce.

Amitabh Bachchan turned guest principal of colleges across the countries for Aarakshan.
Sanjay Dutt and Salman allegedly staged a fake war to promote Bigg Boss 5, which they are to co-anchor.

Mallika Sherawat made jalebis to promote the song Jalebi bai for Double Dhamaal.

Ekta Kapoor promoted naughty threesome parties during the promotions of Ragini MMS.

Ranbir Kapoor milked cows to promote Rockstar.

Tusshar Kapoor turned bootlegger and earned money from selling books on the streets for the promotion of Shor In The City.

During the release of Thank You, a story came out about lead stars Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Suniel Shetty renewing their marriage vows, which they later denied. Then, they married off two couples in front of the entire media.

The most memorable ones so far...

Yana Gupta went commando to get noticed was quite a desperate PR attempt.

Malaika Arora Khan and Arbaaz Khan's ugly break-up was a publicity stunt to promote the brand that the couple was endorsing.

Aamir Khan's missing act during the promotion of 3 Idiots.

Rakhi Sawant did not marry the winner of the Rakhi Ka Swayamvar after so much hoopla.

Akshay Kumar had his fly open while walking the ramp to promote the brand he was endorsing.

The usual suspects...

- When publicist can't find out-of-the box stories, they rely on these standard stories to promote the film
- Link ups, break ups, catfights and stars bonding.
- Actresses refusing lip locks.
- Accidental leaks of sex scenes or songs.
- Spooky activities on the sets of horror films.
- Stars selling tickets to promote the films.
- Stars doing charities.
- Producers gifting their film's stars to show love and gratitude.
- Actor, directors and producers making religious trips just before the release.
- Six packs and size zero stories. How can we forget Shah Rukh Khan's six packs in Main Hoon Na and Kareena Kapoor's size zero figure in Tashan.
- Stars getting injured
while shooting daredevil stunts in their movies.
- Alphabetical alterations.

The king and queen of innovative PR

Aamir Khan tuning barber for Ghajini and introducing people with Ghajini hairdos at cinema halls overshadowed Shah Rukh Khan's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
Ekta Kapoor's publicity campaign of putting 'Ragini Idhar Bethi Thi' at the rear of auto rickshaw was brilliant. Though it was Aamir who first introduced the idea with 3 Idiots with his catchphrase: 3 Idiots were here.

Prateik desires to bowl in Salman Khan’s team

Prateik Babbar, who played a soccer player in Dum Maaro Dum, is also a cricket lover. He’s eager to sign up in the next year of Celebrity Cricket League started by Sohail Khan. He’s now likely to meet Salman Khan shortly, to make sure a place for him in the Mumbai Heroes squad for the upcoming event. Our source more informed that Prateik is a very excellent pace bowler and was angry that he could not make it to the initial edition of CCL this season.

When approached, Prateik verified his programs of approaching Salman. “Not numerous understand that I was a quick bowler for my school side. I have played cricket in the inter-school events and also at the state stage,” recalled the actor, enthusing, “So I would love to play for Salman’s squad.” Considering that Mumbai Heroes, led by Sunil Shetty, could not make it to the finals this season, here is expecting Prateik’s speed bowling helps them the next occasion.

Shahid Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra affection-disdain teeter-totter!

Shahid Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra affection-disdain teeter-totter!: Everyone in the industry and beyond is baffled with the question of whether Shahid and Priyanka are still romantically inclined. The guess-exercise has left a lot of people wiggling their speculative tongue on what is the status of these two Bollywood heartthrobs. People have almost lost counts of how many times these on-off love birds have broken up only to patch up again. As a testimony of them being a couple, the little birdie has cited the IT raid incident at Priyanka’s house where the IT officials were surprised to find Shahid answering the door.
But if rumors are to be believed, Shahid and Priyanka have parted ways, this time for good. A little birdie confirmed that they have split up just few days before Shahid’s birthday. The reason of this break up is said to be incompatibility issue between these two.

Even after having a good companionship, as person both Shahid and Priyanka are poles apart. So they have decided to end this relation and move on. Shahid is not in a mood to woo her back.

Anushka Sharma to love Ranbir Kapoor?

Anushka Sharma to love Ranbir Kapoor? This will be Ayan Mukerji’s second film with Ranbir, he has previously directed Ranbir in the off-beat coming of age comedy Wake Up Sid. Like the previous outing the next film is to be produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
For a while it was assumed that the female lead would be played by Deepika who is also close friends with Ayan, and was also close to Ranbir, then after their much public break-up, Katrina’s name was floating around as the one likely to play the lead. Now, with things not looking too well between Ranbir and Katrina, it does seem apt to consider another.

There is no confirmation from Ayan or Anushka Sharma about this development, and the producer of the film Karan only confirms that Ayan will finalize the actors once the script is ready. Ranbir and Anushka surely would make for a good on-screen couple.

Asin act in 'Ready' as 'Jungle Queen'

Asin act in 'Ready' as 'Jungle Queen': Asin could well be tagged the 'Jungle Queen' if her adventures in Ready are any indications. From hanging down the trees to fighting it out with insects of various species, Asin's tryst with the film has been anything but ordinary over all these months. Another extra ordinary encounter that Asin had was with none less than tigers, and that too with an entire horde of them.

Informs a unit member who had been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that Asin was safe even though the feisty young woman insisted that she could take care of herself, "Asin turned out to be quite an adventure girl in Thailand. While shooting for the Salman Khan starrer at Kanchanaburi, Thailand, she visited the famous 'Tiger Temple' there. Though the earlier idea was for cast and crew members to just pay a quick visit and return to hotel, Asin insisted that she stayed there for a while.

This is when the team of Ready saw the adventurous side of Asin. While most were content just clicking pictures of tigers which were roaming around freely (unlike zoos, the place had tigers roaming around in open), Asin went a step ahead and fed them as well. Not just that, she even played with them for a while. Of course all of this was done under supervision with guards ensuring that there was no untowardly incident. Still, not many would dare to get close to tigers but Asin did."

For Asin, there were a couple of other reasons that made her stay in Kanchanaburi memorable. First and foremost, this was the place where the film Bridge on the River Kwai was shot. Secondly, the place also reminded Asin of her home state Kerala.