Maanyata Dutt had performed a sizzling item song Alhad mast jawani in Prakash Jha's Gangaajal in 2003. At that time she was known as Dilnawaz Shaikh and was trying hard to make a career in Bollywood.
Now that she is happily ensconced in Pali Hill as Mrs Dutt most people would have forgotten the number that Maanyata had performed for Jha's film, except for that fact that Gangaajal has come up for scrutiny and re-evaluation in a most unexpected way, reports Mumbai Mirror.
After the success of Prakash Jha's Raajneeti, Gangaajal is being technically enhanced for renewed market appeal. That's when Maanyata, a.k.a Dilnawaz Shaikh's dance number resurfaced as a topic of conversation. Apparently well-wishers and friends of the Dutts who heard about the new attempts at the restoration of Gangaajal have urged the film's producer and director to re-release the film without the item song. But Jha is in no mood to delete anything.
Says the director, “It's true we are re-doing the sound and visuals of Gangaajal, along with my other films Damul, Mrityudand and Apaharan. We're doing the colour-correction and converting the sound to high-digital quality for blue-ray videos. We aren't deleting anything from Gangaajal or any of the films being restored.”
Recalling Maanyata's item song Jha says, “When she got selected to do the item song she really worked hard on it and made it a memorable number.” Though at that time she was called Dilnawaz Shaikh, she insisted on being billed as ‘Maanyata' for the item song.
Says Jha, “I remember her as possessing great dignity and a passion to excel. God bless her.” All we can say to Mrs Dutt's journey from Dilnawaz Shaikh to Maanyata is — you've come a long way, baby!
