Siddharth Malhotra Defends Nora Fatehi's Manike Song In Thank God, Says 'Its Not An Item Number'

Actor Sidharth Malhotra, whose latest release Thank God is doing a decent run at the box-office, has come in defence of the film's song Manike. The song features Sidharth and Nora Fatehi. Sidharth recently responded to the song's lukewarm reception by referring to it as the film's main song rather than "just an item song." In a recent interview, the actor also spoke about the legal issues surrounding the film.

Sidharth opened at length about the song Manike and told News18, "It's the main song in the film. Nora (Fatehi) plays an interesting character; she doesn't come in for the song alone. It's very well-integrated into the story as opposed to it being just an item song. We're happy that people are liking it."

The actor further described how it is to work with Nora. He said, "Nora and I've done many songs in the past but the first time I've danced with her is in Manike. We did a song in Marjaavaan (Ek Toh Kum Zindagani) as well where I was just looking at her dance. At that time, I had told her that the next time we do a song, I'll make sure that I do some moves and that's what we did with Manike."

Manike is sung by Sri Lankan singer Yohani and Jubin Nautiyal, which is a recreated version of Yohani's 2021 viral song Manika Mage Hithe. The Film Thank God team last year announced that Yohani would be making her singing debut with the Hindi version of her superhit song. However, many slammed the makers for blindly following and copying an original idea.

Sidharth further addressed the legal controversy surrounding Thank God. "While reading a script, you're looking at the story. I feel at times it's not fair to watch one snippet and judge a whole film. You can't judge a book by its cover. I'm waiting for people to actually see the whole two hours of the film and then have a discussion and dialogue on why a character is saying something. Then they can decide what we've done and what the tonality and our intention is. That's the correct way to judge a film," he added.

Directed by Indra Kumar, Thank God also stars Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles. Up next, Sidharth has a bunch of projects in his kitty. He will be seen with Disha Patani and Raashii Khanna in Yodha, which will be released on November 11. He has Shantanu Bagchi's spy-thriller film, Mission Majnu, with Rashmika Mandanna and Amazon Prime's web series Indian Police Force, alongside Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi, which is being helmed by Rohi Shetty.