Although Sonu Sood went to great lengths to acquire the Hindi rights of the Tamil chartbuster Aa Ante Amalpuram for his new film Maximum, he will not be lip-syncing to the song in the film after all.
He has none other than the Big B to blame for being deprived of the pleasure of singing a track he really wanted in his film. "My cop's character in Maximum is similar to Bachchan saab's personality in Zanjeer. The guy doesn't even talk much. How would he burst into a peppy item song?" says Sood.
"There was a lot of pressure on me to sing and dance in Maximum, and I was really tempted. I love the song. That's why I went through hell and high water to get the Hindi rights from the Tamil producer. But it's more important to remain in character than to sing and dance. Woh kabhi aur, " says Sood.
The song has now been filmed on Hazel Keech, the British girl who played Kareena Kapoor's best friend in Bodyguard. The good news is that they have recorded a male version of the number. "I will dance to it at concerts and live performances to my heart's content, " says Sood.
Interestingly, many actors including Dev Anand and Dharmendra had turned down the role in Zanjeer because the hero's character had no song sequence.