By Subhash K Jha

Malaika Arora is no longer Munni, badnaam or otherwise. The makers of the Tamil version of Dabangg have gone for a complete revamp, and that includes replacing Malaika with Bipasha Basu.

Though the team behind the Tamil film claim they voluntarily wanted a change of performer, the fact is Malaika opted out of performing the item song in the Tamil Dabangg, since she now intends to keep her presence exclusive to her home productions.

The makers are now wooing Bipasha Basu with acres of the greenbacks hoping that the Beedi jalaile item girl would recreate the Munni badnaam magic in Tamil.

But the Munni track is far from getting on the right track. According to sources, the makers of the Tamil version of Dabangg have not been able to acquire the rights of the Munni badnaam song from T Series. They're now tweaking the track to give it a Tamilian twang and at the same time escape the risk of copyright infringement.

We asked Sonu Sood who is common to both the Hindi and Tamil versions about the Munni badnaam song. Sood admitted the number was being modified.

"They're re-recording the number in Tamil keeping the flavour mood and basic tempo of the original in mind. As for Bipasha they're very keen to have her do the number. "