There have been several false starts, but this time, it’s for real. Shakira will be singing for a major Bollywood production. The makers of Azaan, a film that marks the debut of gutka baron Jagdish Joshi’s son Sachin Joshi, have sealed the deal with the popular Columbian singer.
Shakira was approached by composers Salim-Suleiman, with the blessing of none other than Shah Rukh Khan, who not only endorses a beverage manufactured by the Joshis, but is also going all-out to promote Sachin’s debut.
“Sachin and Salim-Suleiman have been trying their best to lure Shakira with the double bait of big bucks and Bollywood. Last year, the deal fell through. This year, however, things have gone differently. They approached Shakira to do a promotional video for the movie, and to their delight, she agreed,” said a source.
When asked to confirm, Sachin, who was shooting an action sequence, was hesitant. “We have sealed a deal with a very high-profile international artiste, after months of negotiation. However, until all formalities are complete, we do not wish to make an announcement.” However, when pressed for details, he admitted that the artiste in question is Shakira.
“But I’d rather not talk about it now. We are a few days away from signing the deal and I don’t want anything to go wrong,” said Sachin.
When asked how they managed to pull it off, he said, “Salim-Suleiman presented their ideas on what they wanted her to do, and she liked them. She’ll be singing a song in her patented space, which will be, at the same time, typically ‘Bollywood’.” The last time we heard that Shakira was doing a number in Bollywood, we ended up finding just a mention of her name in a song from No Problem. Let’s hope, this one’s more than that.
