India great opportunity for foreigners: Dibakar Banerjee

May 7, 2012 IANS

Mumbai, May 7 (IANS) Bollywood has seen a sudden surge of foreign beauties sizzle onscreen. Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee, who has roped in a British model for an item number in "Shanghai", feels the industry provides them with an opportunity which may be hard for them to get otherwise.

"India has become very liberated now. May be working in India has become a great opportunity for foreigners and may be there is not enough work out there. That is why people are coming here not just for item songs, but for other works in the industry as well," said Banerjee.

While filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma's film "Department" features Indo-Brazilian model Nathalia Kaur in an item song, Czech beauty Yana Gupta had sizzled in 'Babuji' for the film "Dum".

Pakistani-American model Nargis Fakhri featured opposite Ranbir Kapoor in "Rockstar" and Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone has been roped in by Mahesh Bhatt for "Jism 2".

"Shanghai" has an item number "Imported kamariya" featuring British model Scarlett Mellish Willson.

Meanwhile, "Bharat mata ki jai", another song from "Shanghai" is courting trouble for the filmmaker.

A group called Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena has reportedly expressed concern over the lyrics of the song, which takes a dig at the current state of affairs in the country.

Asked if an FIR has been lodged against him for the number, Banerjee said: "I am not aware of any such news that there is an FIR lodged against the song. Yes, I have heard that there are some people who have objections over certain lyrics of the song."

"So, whatever the judiciary of the country says, we will do that," the 42-year-old added.

"Shanghai" stars Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin and is slated for release June 8. Click the Movie button below for more info:
Shanghai