Bollywood PR stunts that went a tad too far

Jacqueline Fernandez and Mallika Sherawat (right)

Blame it on the star or sometimes their overzealous PR machinery, but quite a few times we come across... ahem... rather unusual (putting it politely) piece of news. Ranging from bizarre to downright silly, the news items end up with a howlarious effect. Here are some such believe it or not kind of tidbits.

Jacqueline Fernandez

Grin and bear it
Like most kids, Jacqueline Fernandez loved to play with soft toy bears during her childhood. Nothing unusual about it, but what really got our funny bones tickling is this now obviously grown up actress giving details about her two teddy bears in an entertainment supplement. In case you have missed it, here's a recap. In a nutshell, Jackie has two soft toy bears who she lovingly calls Mama Bear (as it is huge in size) and Pinky Bear (as it has a pink coloured face). They are always kept by her bedside at her Bandra home. Jacqueline dresses up her two teddies in her own childhood clothes. As they say some things last forever, so 29-year-old Jacqueline not only has her childhood toys, but her clothes from her infancy days in tact as well, unless of course the sexy actress knows how to time travel. Nostalgia gets a whole new meaning here.

Mallika Sherawat

Be the cat's whiskers
While a sizeable number of stars (starting with Deepika Padukone) were coming out bravely about their days of depression, Swara Bhaskar had to add her two bits. Well, here's the twist. Swara's cat, who she calls Atom, was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and she spoke at about how expensive the treatment was turning out to be. The vet prescribed some anti-depression medicines, but Swara felt a sure cure for her feline's health was perhaps a new cat house. So she promptly ordered an expensive cat house from Netherlands even though the freight charges cost a bomb. It made Swara happy to see Atom purr in delight in her new abode.

Richa Chadha

Vivek Oberoi

Almost famous
After essaying the negative role of Kaal in Krrish 3 (2013), Vivek Oberoi was particularly keen to promote himself as one of the iconic Bollywood baddies. He was sure that his role as Kaal was on par with Gabbar Singh of Sholay (1975) and Mogambo of Mr India (1987). VO even went further to compare his performance with that of the late Hollywood star Heath Ledger's role as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). He also felt Kaal reminded people of Johnny Depp's Captain Sparrow's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. While he was busy comparing, the film and the role came and went.

Tusshar Kapoor

Motormouth at work
Mallika Sherawat has always created more news for her controversial comments rather than for her acting. The motormouth in her head is obviously a diva like none other. She hobnobbed with US President Barack Obama in 2011 at an event and later nonchalantly stated in an interview that her life is the same as Obama's - hectic and always on the go. The actress, who is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, had during her 2013 outing given an interview to Variety magazine claiming that she was the first Indian actress to kiss on screen as well as wear a bikini. Mallika chose to ignore that the first kiss in the history of Hindi cinema was seen way back in 1929 when perhaps even Mallika's grandparents were not born. While Sharmila Tagore wore a bikini in the 1960s for a magazine cover. As they say ignorance is not so blissful for Madam M.

Vishaka Singh

Swara Bhaskar

Mistaken identities
Two Bollywood actresses claim they look like the Mexican beauty Salma Hayek. Richa Chadha has always insisted that people often think she is Hayek. Not to be left behind, Vishakha Singh also claims she looks like Salma. During her trip to Cannes last year, the actress said she was pleasantly surprised to see reporters and movie-goers calling and clicking her picture thinking that she is Salma Hayek. Another victim of mistaken identity has been Tusshar Kapoor who was mistaken for British actor Philip Rhys by a fan at Tirupati temple in India. British actor Philip has acted in shows like 24 and CSI. Tusshar said that he had difficult time explaining the fan that he is Tusshar, not Philip.