Shalu challenges Sheila, Munni!

- Move over 'Munni' and 'Sheila'. Bollywood now has a new item girl - Shalu. Mallika Sherawat is set to sizzle as Shalu in Bin Bulaye Barati. And she is going to take Katrina Kaif and Malaika Arora Khan head-on with the song's lyrics stating how Sheila and Munni too have accepted Shalu's charm.

"It's a very energetic dance number. 'Munni' and 'Sheila' are obviously very famous, so we thought why not merge the two words to make our song more interesting. We are very excited about it," says Bin Bulaye Barati's director Chandrakant Singh. The glamourous dance number will be shot on April 4.

Sources inform that Mallika is keen to make 'Shalu' a bigger hit than 'Sheila' and 'Munni'. "Mallika is very impressed with the way Malaika and Katrina's numbers have become huge hits across the country. And she wants the song to be on par with any other item number in Bollywood," informs a source.

Commenting on the lyrics, music director Anand Raj Anand says, "It's the age of item numbers that have a lot of drama. The makers wanted to include the words Munni and Sheila in the number. I am very satisfied with the end result." Interestingly, Anand has also composed 'Jalebi bai', another item number featuring Mallika in Indra Kumar's upcoming film, Double Dhamaal. "As a composer, I had to make sure both the songs are totally different from one other," he says, adding that Mallika loves the song. "I've been told Mallika immediately agreed to do it once she heard the number."

Of course, Mallika's sizzling presence won't come cheap. The 'Shalu' song is going to cost a whopping Rs 3 crore. Although Bin Bulaye Barati is a medium-budget film starring Aftab Shivdasani, Nisha Kothari and Om Puri, Mallika is believed to be charging a princely amount of Rs 3 crore for her two item numbers in the film.

"Mallika is a top star. We are paying her a huge sum for the two songs but we can't divulge the figures," says Prakash Jaju, project designer of the film. Mallika will be seen in a 'nautanki' avatar in 'Shalu', which will also feature Aftab, Nisha and Om Puri. "We decided to rope in Mallika because the film presented an ideal situation for an item number," says the director. "In the sequence, actors are on the run from the police and underworld goons. So they enter a 'nautanki' area and hide themselves. That's when the 'Shalu' song starts."

This is not the only item number from Mallika this year. Besides 'Jalebi bai', she has set the temperature soaring with the 'Razia' song in Thank You. In 2007, Mallika shook her leg in 'Maiyaa Maiyaa' from Guru and 'Mehbooba remix' from Aap Kaa Surroor.