So Priyanka Chopra’s first item song in Shootout At Wadala has come and gone. Moving on, she’s not taking any risks with getting it absolutely right the second time around in her special song for Zanjeer.
We hear the lyrics by Shabbir Ahmed had to go for a second round of refurbishment. Says a source close to the project, “Initially Priyanka was very sure she wanted non-suggestive lyrics and movements. But then the words came out a little flat. So the lyrics had to be livened up without losing their innocuousness. We finally zeroed in on these lines ‘Mumbai Na Dilliwallon Ki, Pinky Hai Dilwaalon Ki’. Priyanka felt this was saucy but not suggestive. And we went with that. And no one was allowed to call it an ‘item song’ because Priyanka wanted the number to be freed of implications commodifying women. It was called a special song.”
Keeping it vulgarity-free is all very well. But Priyanka wanted, in the words of the source, the lyrics and movements to be “free of flab but nonetheless fab”.
The brief during the shooting of the song to choreographer Ganesh Acharya was to make it bigger bouncier brighter than Katrina’s ‘Chikni Chameli’. But without the pelvic thrusts, heaves and aggressive gyrations. A tall order.