Mumbai: New Year’s eve for most of us means partying all night long, but how better would it be if you got paid to so that.

And that is what some of Bollywood’s dancing queens are doing to ring in the year 2008. The item girls will only be earning huge sums of money after few hours of partying hard.

After actor Mallika Sherawat was said to have charged a whopping Rs 50 lakh for a dance at a New Year's party last year, rumour has it that actor Bipasha Basu will be paid Rs 85 lakh for getting nocturnal at Mumbai's celeb hot spot JW Marriott. However, there has been no official confirmation about the fee.

"I will be performing on some of my most popular numbers on New Year’s night. I hope people will enjoy that,” says Bipasha.

Country Club Resorts have roped in eight item girls varying from Malaika Arora to Mahima Chaudhary to shake a leg at their party zones across the country.

The price tag for these performers reportedly goes up to Rs 25 lakh. While A-listers including Malaika and South star Sada can rake in the higher price, smaller actresses like Udita Goswami in Pune and Mahima in Ahmedabad are reportedly charging anything up to Rs 10 lakh.

But some of the artistes clarify that these figures are usually inflated for the media.

Item queen Rakhi Sawant admits that unlike the Rs 30 lakh price tag she is said to be charging - her actual fee is a humble Rs 15 lakh.

So what makes hotels and resorts dole out the cash for these star performances?

"We prefer to give India it's biggest parties its most dramatic evenings. That's why we bring in a big star like Bipasha. They draw in the right kind of crowd for us,” says director, Operations, JW Marriott, Mumbai, Jason Neill.

So as long as the hosts pull in the crowds and the performers get their money, everyone is happy.

But it is not just the money that attracts the item girls to these New Year dos.

"I like to perform on New Year’s because it keeps me busy and I like to end it by entertaining people,” says Mahima.