Stars and their bizarre publicity stunts

Therersquos no such thing as bad publicity right Wrong However when it comes to actorsrsquo hogging the limelight with the intention of diverting attention towards their forthcoming films itrsquos difficult to draw the line Some of the stars go overboard while others show restraint But then showbiz is a funny business and almost everything amounts to entertainment This year saw several such incidents where publicity was the ultimate goal and means didnrsquot matter much Aamir Khanrsquos bowler By now every Bollywood fan or otherwise is aware how Mr Perfectionist doesnrsquot mind covering lengths for the promotion of his films Yes Talaash seemed like a rare exception But then they call him a marketing guru for a reason and his commitment towards his work doesnrsquot require a second guess Having said that his decision to wear that black felt hat wherever he went before Dhoom3 released came across as tad tiresome Underworld calling Just weeks before Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbaai Dobara released its PR machinery got into an overdrive There were empty assertions that Dawood Ibrahim himself has expressed a desire to watch the crime drama Not only that there were rumours doing the rounds that a phone interview was in place with the most wanted guy As predicted nothing came out of it except some muchneeded buzz for the mafiainlove debacle Costumeised Vidya Balan As far as her filmography goes Vidya didnrsquot have an exceptional year With Ghanchakkar being her only major release the Kahaani actress failed to taste either critical or boxoffice success Speaking of the Sujoy Ghosh film she was appreciated last year for her active participation in the promotion of the womancentric film remember that fake baby bulge A similar trick backfired this year as hardly anyone liked her turning up at press conferences in her characterrsquos loud garb Romance unlimited Actors getting linked up during the making of the film is a common practice nowadays And something similar was tried with Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonal Chauhan when their film 3G was about to release Even though both the parties kept the grapevine guessing about their relationship status it was obvious by the end that all the romantic stories involving them were floated with a purpose Mallika Sherawat The sex bombshell simply knows how to stay in news no matter what The seemingly ignorant version of hers in foreign countries is nicely balanced by a witty persona witnessed within the country Well played Taken for a ride In the days leading to Fukreyrsquos release the lsquomastermindsrsquo requested the four young actors to mount on horses for the promotion of the film From left Director Mrigdeep Lamba with producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani Turned out their characters in the movie too had a scene where they are seen riding horses The leading cast of Fukrey on horses Whatrsquos worth noting about this enjoyable tamasha was the directorproducer trio turning up on bicycles because of their fear of horseriding When pink turned pale For some reason the marketing brains behind the first major release of the year Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola thought that the early focus should be on Gulabo a pink buffalo from the political satire At the end of the day the publicity stunt didnrsquot work as Gulabo failed to do for the film what Fakhru the pug could for last yearrsquos Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Notsosimple Dimple In recent memory very few onscreen protagonists captured imagination like Dimple Kapadiarsquos grumpy lady in What The Fish However on the eve of the filmrsquos release Poonam Pandey and Rakhi Sawant were invited for the event And as expected the two controversy queens managed to catch as many wagging tongues as possible No wonder the veteran actress chose not to attend Realty bytes With Atul Sabharwalrsquos Aurangzeb dealing with the crime world and construction business particularly in no small measure the marketing team decided to hold a conference in an underconstruction building in Lower Parel It was a firstofitskind event at least as far as the dry cement in the air is concerned Unleash release Just days after Tejpal Tarun controversy emerged in the headlines Sudhir Mishra reportedly came up with a notion that his film Inkaar could have been more relevant if it were to release later instead of the early part of the year Maybe he was just making a point But with all sincerity wersquod like to see him go back to making gems like Haazaron Khwaishein Aisi One tight slap After the productionrelated delays Satya 2 finally hit the marquee last month And on the eve of its release it made news for all the wrong reasons Its lead actor Puneet Singh slapped Rupesh Jain the marketing head of RGV Productions And that too in full public view Police case happened later and the forgettable hero got some free bytes to grab some more news space Small screen big stunt Pratyusha Banerjee filed a police complaint against exboyfriend Makrand Malhotra claiming harassment and verbal abuse on the phone The incident fizzled out as quickly as it appeaerd in the news wire with the telly actress days away from moving into Bigg Boss Only kids donrsquot get lost Siddharth Shukla was reportedly missing last month and he didnrsquot report to the sets of Balika Vadhu for two days With all the melodrama attached the episode turned out to be a mere rep stuntu00a0