Malaika Arora re-enters into Bollywood

One of the biggest news items this week to have made rounds in the industry circles this week was Malaika Arora's entry into the Bollywood actresses club. But is it really true that this is the first time ever when Malaika has moved away from her item girl image and donned the hat of a leading lady? Not really!

If one digs down in past, her first talkie performance came way back in 2000 when she played Bobby Deol's love interest in Guddu Dhanoa's Bichchoo. Agreed that she had a special appearance in the film with Rani Mukherjee bagging the bigger part but nevertheless Malaika did have a few scenes and a song-n-dance sequence with Bobby to boast.

This is not all as even in Kaante, she not just gyrated to a pole dance number but also had a few scenes to enact. This Sanjay Gupta film married her item girl image persona well with the character of a night club dancer that she played.

Apart from this Malaika has mainly been seen in item songs in films like Dil Se, Maa Tujjhe Salaam, Kaal and Heyy Babyy. However, EMI does stand out as a film which would be her first when it comes to enacting a full length part for a leading lady.

In the film she is paired opposite Arjun Rampal, who plays a DJ. Produced by Suneil Shetty, the film is based on the recent stories about banks forcefully extracting EMIs from the loan seekers. Sanjay Dutt enacts a major role in this film which is directed by debutant Saurabh Kabra.

Shooting is currently on for the film which is expected to release around the middle of 2008.