This story is from December 29, 2007

Headline hunters

PRERNA SHAH / TNN / Dec 29, 2007, 00:00 IST

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Guess which two words are going to be extinct from the dictionary of celebrities in 2008? 'Modesty' and 'low profile'!

doweshowbellyad=0; Aamir (TOI Photo) More picsWere you tired of Mallika Sherawat when she grabbed every air time available to wax eloquent about her tid-bit role in Jackie Chan’s The Myth?
Called her a publicity hound, did you? Well, 2007 had celebrities who went to such extents and the n some more to garner publicity that it made Mallika appear like a self-effacing, modest person! Read on...
Rat-a-tat Rakhi
She is the uncontested winner when it comes to bagging the ‘publicity hound of the year award’. If you thought her ranting in Bigg Boss were over the top, she really proved that she can do anything to get eyeballs, even if it means that she makes a fool of herself.

After being in the ‘news’ for reportedly getting rid of her silicone implants for Nach Baliye 3, she was successful in drawing the attention away from winners of the reality show. She turned on her water hoses on national television and made accusations of foul play. She has ensured that she and her boyfriend Abhishek Awasthi got more interviews than the winning pair!
The ‘A’ list of Bollywood
Did you notice how every star worth his salt in Bollywood went begging for an audience for their films and in the process appeared on every dance/singing/talk show to ostensibly judge reality shows on television?

Shah Rukh, Salman and Akshay Kumar did it. So did newbies Sonali Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. Did someone say ‘By the way, what about the ‘exclusive’ Aamir Khan who usually doesn’t like to interact with the media? Didn’t he just talk to everyone who was willing to listen about Taare Zameen Par?’
The ‘Guru’ of them all
Mr Big B, now all of us know that you are the superstar of Bollywood. But hey, what was that about ‘... Abhishek was better than me in Guru...’ We know that self promotion is the done thing in the industry, but ‘son promotion?’ We think Chhota B could do without your recommendations. He’s a fine young man and acts decently. Perhaps you could enlighten us about performances of actors that you really liked, actors that don’t happen to be your son or bahu.
But we need publicity too!
In order to grab eyeballs, reality shows flashed fights between judges and co-contestants as their promo runs. Directors of saas-bahu serials alleged of copied ideas. And Ekta Kapoor and Smriti Irani please decide whether you are friends or foes.
You fight it out at an award function then give sugar sweet bytes like ‘Main Tulsi tere aagan ki...’ and ‘There is no animosity...’ We quite don’t know what to believe. Other than, of course that you guys lust for publicity too!
Making love
And in the end, we were wondering if people break up just so that they can get some few extra eyeballs? Now, please we aren’t aiming for Bipasha Basu-John Abraham or Kareena Kapoor-Shahid Kapoor at all. Please guys, we have a heart too!

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