Tezz: Mallika Sherawat's item number axed?

Mumbai: Often in Bollywood, item numbers have proved to be quite beneficial to an actress' career. However, for Mallika Sherawat, it proved to be quite the opposite. After learning that her dance number in Priyadarshan's next is not so impressive, the makers of her upcoming film with Sachiin Joshi have simply decided to do away with her. That too, just a month before the shoot starts.

On top of that, we also hear that the item number that spelled doom for Mallika has actually been edited out from the final cut of Priyan's film. A well-placed industry source tells us that the producers of the Sachiin Joshi film felt that the actress had failed to cast any magic with her moves in her item song in the Priyadarshan action thriller.

"When the first look of the song Laila was out, it didn't look like Mallika had done anything extraordinary. No one is talking about her song. If her presence in a song can't help hype it, expecting a film to generate buzz on her name would be expecting too much. So she has been dropped," explains our source.

Mallika's high-handed attitude is also apparently to be blamed. Our source adds, "Even Sachiin is mincing no words when telling people how difficult Mallika is. He’s sparing no details about her tantrums." Mallika's spokesperson says, "She was verbally committed to the film but was awaiting the final script. But that didn't come on time. So she opted out."

Caught and dropped?

Regarding her item number being removed, a well-placed source associated with the film tells us that after a series of discussions between producer Ratan Jain and director Priyadarshan, the final decision was taken. Interestingly, earlier while Jain had insisted on retaining the track, Priyan wanted it out.

"Mallika's Laila song doesn't feature in the final copy of the film," revealed our source, adding, "Instead of wasting money promoting it, Ratanji thought it would be better to spend it on the talkie promos and action." Priyadarshan told us, "The final decision is yet to be taken." Producer Ratan Jain maintains, "I am retaining the song."