Amitabh - Rajini doesn't need promotion, but we do

Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan admits promoting films has now become as important as making them. However, he feels there are some exceptions like Tamil megastar Rajinikanth who doesn't require such marketing tools.

"Promoting films has become as important and time consuming as making them! The element of bringing to notice this vast multitude and inviting them to come and see it within a week, for that is the duration of most films these days, at least as an indicator for their commercial prospects, has now become the yardstick," Amitabh posted on his blog BigB.bigadda.com.

"We never had it in our time and neither were we ever conscious of it. It was left to the producer and the distributor how it needed to be exploited. But times have changed now. There is greater awareness as far as communication goes; mediums of which have increased a million fold," he added.

The 68-year-old feels that for "lesser mortals like us", promotions are needed to excite audience and get them into theatres.

"Rajini, Rajinikanth never indulges in this practice. The practice of promotions. And on occasion when we talk film informally, he often questions me as to why I do this. It's like selling yourself like a product, he often tells me. We laugh over it, but I explain to him that he is Rajinikanth, he does not need it. For him, it happens on its own. For lesser mortals like us, we need to

excite audiences, to propel them to take interest, to get them into the theatres!!" he wrote.