Malaika- Arbaaz split stunt was for skin cream

Rumours of Malaika-Arbaaz divorce spread to whip up interest in product launch

MUMBAI: The term event management took on a whole new meaning on Thursday when it turned out that the morning’s “scoop” in the tabloid press of a break-up of one of Bollywood’s longest lasting marriages was a stunt for a product launch later in the day.

The reports of a split between item girl-cum-actor Malaika Arora Khan and her actor husband Arbaaz Khan had created a stir in the city. But it later emerged that the whole thing had been the bright idea of some marketing whiz to add fizz to the launch of a skin cream the two celebrities were endorsing.

While speaking to DNA earlier in the evening (before the product launch) Malaika almost admitted to the whole thing being a publicity gimmick. “Yes, there were some rumours floated around but the  tabloid put two and two together and the story didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. I wish the tabloids were not so impatient,” she said.

At the launch itself in the evening, a huge drama was played out with the couple exchanging rings and saying they would get married again if they needed to and vowing to stay together forever.

However, not everyone is tickled. Adman Prahlad Kakkar is aghast. “It’s a sad reflection on society. It clearly shows that their break-up story as a couple would attract more attention than them as individual celebrities. These things obviously don’t work as publicity gimmicks. It can only damage the person’s credibility. You can get away with it only once. Tomorrow if Malaika comes on air and says some relative of hers is terminally ill and would like people to help, would people really want to believe it? If the celebs have become party to this, it’s really cheap,” he said.

However, the Khans are not the first to try and pull off an act like this. Not so long back a taped romantic conversation between Priyanka Chopra and cricketer Sreesanth floated around in media circles just before the two came together for an event to endorse a soap brand.  

When asked about the tapes, Sreesanth had said rather unabashedly, “Priyanka is one of my favourite actresses. So something between Priyanka and me? You never know!” He clearly intended to prolong the game as much as possible.

There have been other such instances in Bollywood too. In 1995, just ahead of the release of their film  Criminal, Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt floated rumours of Manisha Koirala being murdered. (No points for guessing that she gets murdered in the film!).

Everything was fine, except that they forgot to inform Manisha about their little prank, leading to a bit of an ugly scene later. Later, in 2006, Mahesh Bhatt declared that his film Woh Lamhe was based on a private taped conversation between him and his then lover Parveen Babi.

When asked about the ethical aspect of using someone’s memory to sell a film, he had told After Hours, “A lot of great literature has people talking about their personal lives. Everyone is trying to sell you something from soap to salvation. I see no difference between someone who sells her body or a seer who is selling his way of living to you.”