A poster of Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi?

Mumbai, Dec. 28: Hundreds of youngsters jostled for their share of goodies as Bollywood starlet Neha Dhupia rained condoms and contraceptive pills last week at IIT Bombay’s annual fest, Mood Indigo.

The giveaways were part of the promotion of a small-budget film with starlets and newcomers that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

But the unique goody bag for Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? a film on a one-night stand produced by Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), did more than generate a buzz — it led to a catfight between the producer and the lead actress.

Rangita Nandy, Pritish’s daughter, and Dhupia argued and ranted at each other after the starlet had initially refused to throw the sexually explicit goodies at the crowds. “She felt it would sully her clean image. But she had to give in,” a PNC source said.

Dhupia had once famously commented that only SRK and sex sell in Bollywood. “Given that we don’t have SRK in our movie, she should not be complaining,” the PNC source said.

Battered by recession and strikes through most of 2009, Bollywood has taken to in-your-face marketing since September as a plethora of films, confined to cans through the year, queue up for near-simultaneous release.

“The producer-multiplex owner strike stalled releases for nearly six months, so the queue of films has been long and they are eating into each other’s audiences. Without smart marketing ideas, they will be lost in the crowd and before you know it, some other new release will kick your film out of the theatre,” said Anil Nagrath, an independent industry consultant and publicist.

Dhupia’s right: sex has been as useful a marketing tool for Bollywood films as for any other product.

Love Sex Dhokha, a soon-to-be-released film from Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms stable, has a promotional campaign that urges people to upload to its website short films on the themes of love, sex and betrayal.

The website says: “It would be great if the films are shot voyeuristically.”

PNC’s Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? website, too, has a “Dirty Secrets and Confessions” corner where fans can submit their admissions on all things sexual. The corner is already overflowing with fans’ “dirty” secrets. The film is due for release on New Year’s Eve.

The UTV-produced, Shahid Kapoor-Genelia starrer Chance Pe Dance, due for release on January 15, will soon start a unique campaign.

In the film, Shahid plays a struggling dancer who lives in a battered Maruti 800 and moves around in the car auditioning at various places. As part of the promotion, the producers will have Shahid staying in an old Maruti 800 for two days in Mumbai in January.

“Shahid approved of the idea because he, too, moved around in a second-hand Maruti 800 during his days of struggle. Innovative, below-the-line ideas will make an impact as long as they have some connection with the story line,” said UTV CEO Siddhartha Roy Kapur.

UTV’s forthcoming release Pan Singh Tomar, starring Irrfan Khan, will organise a Chambal trip for a chosen few fans.

“The campaign is spun around the story, which is based on a real-life character — an Asiad medal-winning sportsman who turns a robber to fight injustice in his village in Chambal,” Kapur said.

Desperate for a mass hit, Bollywood is increasingly using such below-the-line activities — marketing parlance for all non-mass media promotions. It works with some, doesn’t with others.

Aamir Khan’s alternative reality game, city-hopping in disguise to create a buzz around 3 Idiots, has worked well. So have the father-son moments of Balki’s Paa, including the monkey dance, celebrations at malls and theatres, and slides saying: “If you don’t stand up for the national anthem, I will tell Paa”.

But Salman Khan’s marketing overdrive for London Dreams and Main Aur Mrs Khanna — he was promoting the films on every possible social networking site and reality TV show — did little for either.