Recently there have been reports that Shilpa Shetty is part of a new movie titled Shilpa – The Big Don. However, this is not completely true because it is not a new movie, it is a Hindi dubbed version of her Kannada super hit film Auto Shankar (2005). The big problem is that Shilpa did not know or consent to the film being re-released in the Hindi version.
Shetty’s publicist Dale Bhagwagar said, “Shilpa was shocked to see posters and advertisements of the film published in film trade magazines some time ago, as she wasn’t even aware that the film had been dubbed.”
Adding, “What stunned her more was the title. Yes, she does play a ‘lady don’ in the film. In fact, during the film’s release two years ago, she had even termed her character, an ode to Gabbar Singh. But Shilpa – The Big Don seems to be just an amusing attempt to cash in on her ‘Big Brother’ win.”
To add even more insult to injury there are two songs with lyrics devoted to the actress. One song says: “Shilpa Shetty, Shilpa Shetty, Shilpa Shetty re, roop aisa ke loot jaaye hum toh yahin re.” While the second includes the lyrics: “Shilpa Shetty iski ho gayee, Aishwarya Rai, Mumtaz bhi gayee… kaisa yeh mail hai, tu hi anmol hai, aaja aaja bahon mein“.
Shilpa-The Big Don is scheduled to release in January 2008 and the promotion of the film has all ready begun. In fact the producers of the film have launched a website that includes a promo of the film.
Bhagwagar went on to say, “South movies are cool but they have a specific flavour which is quite different from Hindi cinema. When the language changes a lot of nuances in a film can change context. This might seem extremely awkward and could turn into an uneasy development for Shilpa.”
Since Shetty did not know about or consent to this, one wonders if she will try and block the release of the film in court. However Bhagwagar says he does not think that would be a good idea, “The re-release could be embarrassing, but from a PR point of view, I would not advice Shilpa to stop her own film.”
