An “Item song” or an “Item number” is a song or a musical number included in a movie. This practice is most popular in Indian Cinema and the songs may or may not have relevance to the plot of the movie.
Many Bollywood movies often have a celebrity feature in their item songs as a surprise and these celebrities often charge a huge sum of money for their feature. Check out how much some celebrities have charged for some of these item songs:
Samantha Prabhu:
Allegedly, Samantha was paid a total of 5 crore INR for her outstanding performance in “oo Antava”, which was her first-ever song appearance in a film.
A source told the portal, “Oh, she has charged a bomb for the Oo Antava dance number. Believe me, she was very reluctant. The film’s leading man Allu Arjun personally took the effort to convince her.”
The source also added, “They had to pay her close to Rs 5 crores for that 3-minute dance number. She had some reservations about some of the dance movements. But gradually she got into the groove and didn’t demand that even one step be changed.”
Mallika Sherawat:
Mallika reportedly charged 1.5 crores for her item song feature in ‘Jalebi Bai’ and “Razia”. Mallika is also one of the highest-paid item song celebrities.
Nora Fatehi
The actress used to charge around Rs 50 lakhs during her Dilbar and Saki Saki days. As per the recent rumours, she increased her charges to Rs 2 crores.
Jacqueline Fernandez:
Jacqueline Fernandez charged a total sum of INR 40 lakh for her item song “Jadoo Ki Jhappi”, a number for which she got immense popularity.
Katrina Kaif:
Reportedly, the actress charged a whopping 2 crore INR for her feature in “Chikni Chameli”, a song that blew the Indian audience away. She allegedly got around 50 lakhs for her other numbers which also include “Sheila Ki Jawani “, which is not as expensive.
Sunny Leone:
Know for her item songs like “Baby doll” and “Pink Lips”, she is most known for her number in “Laila oh Laila”, for which the actress was paid a sum of 3 crore INR!