IndiaFM

Mumbai, Jul 16: She's done it again. After raising quite the commotion in Chennai for the music launch of Kamal Haasan's film Dasavatharam, Mallika Sherawat is again busy raising eyebrows, this time for a song that celebrates the spirit - in a bottle.

The promos of Pritish Nandy Communications' Ugly Aur Pagli show a high-as-a-kite Mallika Sherawat singing Main Talli Main Talli Ho Gayi, meaning 'I am drunk', and the moral army is already on the job.

Reportedly, the song's intoxicating content and its portrayal of a young free-spirited girl in a state of uncontrollable inebriation is being questioned in the highest quarters.

This isn't the first sozzled sizzler to hit the screen. In fact, Lata Mangeshkar sang such melodious memorabilia as Kaise Rahun Chup (Inteqaam), Jaane Kya Pilaya Tune (Jugnu) and Han Ji Han Main Sharaab Pee Hai (Seeta Aur Geeta) decades ago.

In fact, as early as the 1960s, we had the immortal Meena Kumari stumbling drunk all over the place and singing Sharabi Sharabi Mera Naam Ho Gaya in the film Chandan Ka Palna.

Back then women were allowed to have more fun. Today, the moral police is already on PNC's trail for promoting alcoholism in the song.

Ever the iconoclast, Pritish Nandy shrugs his shoulder. "Let them say what they like. Firstly, Talli is a zany fun song. Yes, Mallika Sherawat is saying she's high in the song but she could be high on life. Or she could be high on Coca Cola," he jokes.

"Very honestly, we need to stop wagging our fingers at other people. Why can't a woman lose control in a pub and freak out? Is that the prerogative of men only? I neither drink nor smoke. But I see nothing wrong with people who do. As long as you don't drive when you drink, what's wrong with having a few drinks and creating some masti?"

Pritish Nandy says he is in principle opposed to any kind of moral censorship. "Don't smoke don't drink. Don't do 'it' behind the bushes. We all have the right to do what we like. And the Talli song is about having fun."