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.
