I was persuaded to throw condoms at college crowd: Neha Dhupia

Neha Dhupia says she had to be goaded quite a bit to throw a goody bag full of condoms and contraceptive pills at a college crowd here to promote her film Raat Gayi Baat Gayi but realised it was a great marketing strategy that sent out a positive message.

Neha Dhupia says she had to be goaded quite a bit to throw a goody bag full of condoms and contraceptive pills at a college crowd here to promote her film "Raat Gayi Baat Gayi" but realised it was a great marketing strategy that sent out a positive message.

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"We had gone to the Mood Indigo festival at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) in Mumbai and I was asked to throw around this goody bag. I said 'No! I'm not throwing it'," Neha said. "But my producer (Rangita Nandy) insisted that 'You must because it's got everything to do with the film'.

"And I was like 'No! What are we trying to project?' But I guess that was her way of promoting the film. We are just mediums. So I said yes to it."

"Raat Gayi Baat Gayi", a Percept Picture Company (PPC) project, is about a one night stand. The movie has been directed by Saurabh Shukla and also features Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey.

The producers were trying to pull off a successful marketing stunt by throwing bags full of condoms, contraceptives, Disprin pills, et al, and Neha finally did it after realising that the exercise had a message attached to it.

"There was a message in all this - that if you have a hangover or if you are having a very drunk night - you must have contraceptives, protection, or antacid pills like Disprin. Everything was there in the bag. The message was - take it and go party. The bags had everything except cash to buy the alcohol," said the 29-year-old.

The former beauty queen says she was pleasantly surprised with the response from the young students.

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"The way the students reacted to me was so beautiful. It was the first time I ever went up to the stage and sang. I sang like a rock star or at least I thought I was. They just grabbed the bags. But if at that time, even if I would have thrown the wire of the mike, they would have grabbed it. Actually, initially I was hesitant about throwing it, but I learnt how to laugh with it," she said.

After "Raat Gayi Baat Gayi", in which she plays a mysterious woman called Sophia, Neha is looking forward to movies like "Action Replay", "Raftaar" and "Pappu Can't Dance Saala".

She, however, admits that she would like to do a romantic movie opposite Bollywood's king of romance Shah Rukh Khan.

"I am looking forward to a nice romantic film which hasn't come my way yet. I am hoping to get that soon. I am a big Shah Rukh fan and I would like him to be in it but then it doesn't have to be him. It can be anybody. It's just that Shah Rukh is magnificent," she added.