Maverick director Ram Gopal Varma feels that though the item songs are intended to boost overall entertainment value, they have now become the face of contemporary films. "The technical definition of item songs is that they are supposed to be an item and to give hype and additional bonus to a film. But in today's times item song has become face of the film. But in Department the item song comes according to the situation," Varma told PTI.

RGV is all praise for the Brazilian-Indian model Nathalia Kaur whose sensuous number 'Dan Dan' in Department is fast becoming a rage. However, more than the song, the director seems more impressed with Nathalia's sizzling performance and is promoting her. "Right now the promotion is going on because of the item song that is on air. The idea of promoting Nathalia is to promote the song. No film is eventually made without the purpose of promoting certain actor. It is the marketing team that decides how to promote the film and all," he said.

'Dan Dan' song is the first song that I am promoting after 'Khallas' and it is the second item song that I did. Like I said, item song has become face of the film. The promotion of the item number and that of Nathalia's go hand-in-hand, he said. The much-hyped number from Department launching Nathalia is, however, not original. The song 'Dan Dan Dana Dan' has been based on 'Aasai Nooru Vagai', the song featuring Rajinikanth in 1983 film Adutha Varisu.

"The song was the biggest hit of all times for Ranjinikanth. I have been a huge fan of him and the song. It is almost 30 years that the song came up. So we all thought if we could do something with the song. I believe ideas never grow old; it is just the packaging and presentation that get updated with technology and times," the director said. For the item number in Department, Varma tried his best to rope in the porn star Sunny Leone but he had to replace her with Nathalia.

"Actually we wanted Sunny Leone first but Pooja Bhatt had problem in releasing her as she wanted to unveil her in Jism. So I asked Nathalia to do the song. I did not invent Nathalia. I was at Puri's (director Puri Jagannath) place and he was auditioning girls for a film. I was taken aback when I saw Nathalia. And I thought of casting her in my film, as that would take some time so I asked her to do this item song," the director said.

Varma was first obsessed with Urmila Matondkar followed by Antara Mali and then Nisha Kothari. Now it seems RGV's latest obsession is with the Brazilian model. When asked to comment about the reports that Nathalia is his latest muse, Varma quipped, "They (reports) do not bother me....I am used to reading stuff like that. if they don't write anything about me like this, then I am shocked".

Releasing on 18th May, Department stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati in lead roles. Meanwhile, RGV is all set to make a third installment of Sarkar, a 2005 thriller set in the world of politics and crime. The film's sequel, Sarkar Raj was released in 2008. "The timing (for shooting) is not yet fixed...probably should start from October or so. Amitji and Abhishek will be there rest of the cast is not finalised. The script is still under progress," he said.

The filmmaker is also excited about the Hindi remake of hit Telugu film Businessman with Abhishek Bachchan. "I have signed Abhishek for the remake of Businessman. The film sets in the time period when underworld is completely vanished from Bombay...it is completely eradicated. So this man comes in and calls himself a businessman as he believes crime is business", he said. Originally directed by Puri Jagannath, Businessman is a crime thriller starring Mahesh Babu and Kajal Agarwal in the lead role.