While Bollywood stars are known to promote their films close to the release with much gusto at any and every possible platform, there is one place where our B-town stars are definitely seen pre-release and that's at various temples, mosques and other holy shrines. While seeking blessings from the Almighty is certainly a good thing, the way in which our actors and actresses time their temple visits suspiciously close to the release of their film does smell fishy at times.

Recently, Madhur Bhandarkar and his 'Heroine' Kareena Kapoor visited several Ganpati pandals in the city around the release of their big film. Madhur even had the audio release function of Heroine done at the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. In the past the team of All The Best including Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Bipasha Basu etc. too were spotted at Siddhivinayak temple prior to the release of the film and even Himesh Reshammiya launched the music of his film Damadamm at the same temple.

During the release of Rockstar, Nargis Fakhri was spotted at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Later the cast and crew of Chaar Din Ki Chandni including Tusshar and Kulraj Randhawa too had a Darshan at the Golden Temple close to the release of the film. However, even God couldn't help that film's fortunes. Now its believed that even the music of Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardaar is scheduled to take place at the Golden Temple later this week.

The Ajmer Sharif Dargah too has seen a lot of Bollywood stars paying a visit so much so that Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, the Dargah Dewan reasoned that a holy place must not be used as a platform for anything that is forbidden and against Islamic law. He was upset with film-stars coming to the Dargah repeatedly to seek blessings for their films and, in the process, promote their film through the media. Among others, Katrina Kaif during the release of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Ajay Devgn prior to the release of Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, Abhishek Bachchan prior to the release of Players and recently Ekta Kapoor before the release of Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum were among the B-town celebs spotted at Ajmer Sharif Dargah. Recently, Emraan Hashmi too was spotted at the Mahim Dargah praying to the Almighty, couple of weeks before the release of his film Raaz 3.

Akshay Kumar, who has always been very religious, used to frequently visit the Vaishnodevi temple in Jammu but the actor has gone on record to say that post working on his new film OMG! Oh My God, he has come to realize that God is within and hence one needn't always spend lakhs of rupees visiting temples. The actor himself has decided to use the money more prudently by helping out cancer victims and other needy people.

There can and there will always be two sides to this story but the numerous instances clearly suggest that there is a trend around actors timing their visits to holy shrines close to the release of their films. What do you think? Is it justified or should there be a limit to the things that actors do in the name of publicity? You may share your feedback in the comments section below: