Shilpa joins the Cannes bandwagon

Guess who's going to sizzle at Cannes this year?

Aishwarya Rai is there, of course, as part of the jury. Now, Shilpa Shetty will perform a choreographic interpretation of Bollywood's most cherished tradition -- song 'n' dance.

Shilpa sees the opportunity as a step forward in her career. She no longer wants to be a glamour prop and is on the lookout for meaty roles. "I'm carefully picking my parts in films. And if it wasn't such a honour to represent our country, I wouldn't have accepted the offer to go on stage at Cannes," Shilpa says from the sets of Puneet Issar's Sanghaar, where she is currently shooting with buddy Salman Khan.

Shilpa's colleagues, who were earlier approached with the offer, had reservations about dancing at an event where Aishwarya was a judge. Shilpa laughs, "Are you serious?

Why would I feel insecure because Aishwarya is on the Cannes jury? In fact, I'd feel happy knowing one of my sisters [Shilpa and Aishwarya belong to the Bunt community from Mangalore, Karnataka] is watching. If it's an honour for Aishwarya to be on the Cannes jury, I'm equally proud to represent my country at such a prestigious event."

Shilpa's 'item number' at Cannes will be choreographed by Pappu-Malu, who choreographed Aishwarya's More piya number in Devdas. Neeta Lulla, who designed Aishwarya's costumes in Devdas, will design her costumes.

"That's as close as I get to Sanjay Bhansali right now," Shilpa giggles.

"They wanted me to perform items from every era since the inception of cinema. But I suggested I do something from the 1990s to present times. I'm not comfortable doing anything I'm not familiar with," Shilpa confesses before joining Salman to gyrate in the sweltering summer heat. "Can you imagine we're pretending it's frosty weather in this summer heat?"