Why Ameesha won't do an item number in her next

Given a choice, actors might want to keep item numbers out of their CVs, but not Ameesha Patel. She is keen on doing an item song in her next film in which she has a negative role but director Susi Ganesan has refused

Given a choice, actors might want to keep item numbers out of their CVs, but not Ameesha Patel. She is keen on doing an item song in her next film — south director Susi Ganesan’s Shortcut Romeo — in which she has a negative role.

Ganesan reveals, “She was insistent about doing the number ever since she heard that there is one in the film. But her part in the movie is a negative one. I couldn’t change the part and make her do an item song. As a director, I told her that it would affect the whole character graph; so I had to refuse.”

The Tamil original, Thiruttu Payale (2006), had an item number with belly dancers.

The Hindi adaptation of the track has been shot in a bar. Ganesan is considering roping in some Bollywood stars to dance to the song composed by Himesh Reshammiya. “The hunt is on, and I have to finalise someone for the item number in 20 days. I’m looking for some actors, who will feature in this song alone. But I have not approached anyone yet,” he says. Shortcut Romeo is a romantic-thriller, also starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Puja Gupta.