Mallika gives sex tips to Ranvir

Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey have been very discreet about their engagement. But just 15 days before the release of the Ranvir-starrer Ugly Aur Pagli, the news of their secret engagement is all over the town.

The more tight-lipped Konkona and Ranvir remain about their lovelife, the more interest it indirectly generates for the film. The clincher would be if days before the film’s release, either Ranvir or Konkona or both finally give an exclusive interview on their lovelife. Talk about stunts being pulled off to get initials for a film.

Of course, no publicist or producer is expected to go on record to confirm this as a publicity stunt. Says the film’s director Sachin Khot, expectedly, “This is my first film. My film promos have got great response and people are saying that the chemistry between Mallika and Ranvir is fresh. I can’t speculate on publicity strategies,” says Khot.

The film’s producer Pritish Nandy says that neither Ranvir nor his company likes to flaunt the personal life to promote films. “We stick to the movie, For us, that sells,” says Nandy.

However, Prabhat Chowdhury, head of the company promoting the film, says, “When Konkona and Ranvir fell in love on the sets of Mixed Doubles, we did report that. Just to let them get into the groove of their character, the director had left them alone for three days in an apartment.

The peg of the director’s interviews of how they fell in love on the sets went well with the film’s plot. If I really had to promote Ugly... using the love angle, I’d want Ranvir to talk about his relationships with alpha women. Both his ex — Pooja Bhatt — and Konkona have been dominating. Even Mallika plays a dominating character in the film. But, we never discussed with Ranvir the possibility of promoting the film on these lines.”

Yet adman Prahlad Kakar is sure that this engagement news is a stunt. “For God’s sake, this is a stunt. They’ve been engaged for so long. And the next stunt would be a story on how Mallika Sherawat offers sex tips to the slightly-jaded couple!” insists Kakar.

So much for Ugly... , but what about the reports of this mysterious trainer of Akshay Kumar? Isn’t that pretty well-timed too, considering that Singh is Kinng releases on August 8 and there is ample time for this mysterious trainer to finally come out in the open and declare that all is fine in the Kumar household?

“Such speculation regarding the women in Akshay’s life have been going on and off since the time of Namastey London. But, Akshay is very touchy and is planning to sue the channel that carried this story,” says Chowdhury, whose company is also promoting the Akshay-starrer (Many directors, however, are quite happy with such stunts as long as they kindle the audience’s interest. Director Apoorva Lakhia went on record recently to say that any publicity is good for his film, Mission Istaanbul, even if it’s about him and Vivek Oberoi being at loggerheads or Turkish belly dancer Tanyeli complaining that he is not an easy man to work with!

And that makes us wonder what could be the possible publicity stunts for some of this year’s biggest releases. A film publicist, on condition of anonymity, says, “Both God Tussi Great Ho and Bachna Ae Haseeno releases on August 15. For BAH, which is about relationships, stories could be planted on the growing friendship between Ranbir and Bipasha and how Deepika and John react to this intimacy. For GTGH, any number of speculative stories could be churned out on the equation between Salman and Amitabh Bachchan and whether the Bachchan bahurani would attend the premiere or exchange pleasantries with her ex.”

Even the music launch of Singh is Kinng got considerable hype with tabloids speculating over whether Big B had left the venue early just to avoid meeting Salman. But this publicist, who was present at the venue, says, “The event was held at a discotheque. It was stifling for Big B to stay there for long. Nevertheless, such stories only added to the reader/audience’s interest in the film,” he says.

Drona, which hits theatres on October 2, can also pull off stunts with stories on how Ash has taken to the chemistry between Abhishek and Priyanka during the pre-release hype. But the biggest stunts this year would be pulled off on the blogospheres. With the Aamir-starrer Ghajini releasing on November 28 and Shah Rukh-starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi hitting theatres on December 12, stars can use the Net to make both shocking and humourous comments that suitably generate controversy (remember Aamir’s blog entry where he had written about his dog Shah Rukh?) and interest.

But before we sign off, how can one forget that this year also has Himesh Reshammiya’s Karzzzz that releases sometime in October-November? Himesh’s burqa controversy before his debut film also helped the film get a good opening. And guess what? Kakar believes Himesh, with his wig, will be all over town giving tips on how to grow hair on a billiards table! Source : Times of India.