'Go Govinda' song was not required: Paresh Rawal

Mumbai: Actor Paresh Rawal, who is making his debut as a producer with ‘Oh My God’, says item number ‘Go Govinda’ featuring Sonakshi Sinha was not required in the film. “No, it (the song) was not required. The call is taken by marketing team and somewhere I agree to it, agree to their experience of so many years, so it is fine,” Paresh told PTI, when asked if he is personally in favour of item songs and if this song was necessary in the movie. [caption id=“attachment_467895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Courtesy: ibn live[/caption] ‘Oh My God’ is based on Umesh Shukla’s Gujarati play ‘Kanji Viruddh Kanji’ and has Akshay Kumar in the lead along with Paresh, who has co-produced the film. For the first time, actress Sonakshi Sinha has done an item number ‘Go Go Govinda’, a Janmashtami song, with choreographer-director Prabhu Deva in the film. “The song will bring in crowds, it is an added attraction. It helps in running the film. If that was not the case, why someone would spend crores on it,” he said. Earlier, Akshay Kumar had said people could call this a marketing gimmick. “It can be a marketing gimmick. We requested Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi to do it and they agreed,” Akshay had said. Sonakshi and Akshay have teamed up thrice as a couple on screen including ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Joker’ and in forthcoming film ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai 2’. “I have not selected Sonakshi, Akshay has taken the call. They are close as they have worked together in many films. When you are working in a team you have to go by majority,” Paresh said. On if given a choice, would he go for this kind of a song, Paresh instantly said, “No.” Paresh doesn’t believe much in promotions, but says being the producer of the film he is doing it. “We are marketing the film aggressively. Somewhere I fail to understand this strategy of going to reality shows, visiting cities, going to malls. As a producer I am committed to doing it but this way of marketing is wrong,” Paresh said. PTI