Star heroines who do item songs come up with a common refrain every time they are asked about their choice. "This is not a regular item song."
Actress Sreeleela made a similar comment when asked about doing 'Kissik' in 'Pushpa 2'. "I have turned down special song offers before. I did 'Kissik' because it is not treated as an average item song. There is a strong reason why I did it and you will know it when you watch the movie," Sreeleela said.
What context can an item song have? Item songs feature the hero and an actress who is not part of the film's cast. When the actress is not a character in the film, she can't bring any context, in most cases.
An item song is an item song, no matter what mental and verbal gymnastics you might deploy to convince people otherwise. Star heroines are paid a bomb to do them because item songs as a category don't enjoy a great image. They bring attention and eyeballs but they can result in an actress being typecast and her market value depleting. Actresses don't want to run this risk and therefore avoid item songs most of the time. They make an exception only for superstar heroes like Allu Arjun and Mahesh Babu. They could just say, "I did this item song because the hero is a superstar." But they never will. Because everything is about marketing.
