THE ITEM GAME

Item numbers often leave the main film behind because of the way dancers invest the songs with zest and vibrancy. Shoma A. Chatterji on the genre, which got a new dimension with The Dirty Picture

FROM cha cha cha to the vigorous ga-ga to hip-hop or salsa, from Helen through Mumtaz to Bipasha Basu to Koena Mitra to Tanushree Dutta, dance in cinema has had a rocky journey from slight latka-jhatkas to zordar lachak-machaks. No film, with rare exceptions like Black or Viruddh, seems to survive minus a sizzling, hot and sexy item number.

It is, however, Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture, which is the culmination of item numbers in Hindi cinema. The entire film can be read as a complete ‘item number’ unto itself not because it is selling lust and sex audio visually but because it is telling us the story of a woman who turned many heroines upside down with her sizzling hot numbers when the phrase ‘item number’ was not even invented.

It shows Vidya Balan, who, in a radically against-the-grain character like Silk, redefines the word ‘dirty’ and gives it several layers of meaning. She shows how Silk Smitha could twist many Southern filmmakers round the little finger of her left hand in the 1980s with her ‘dirty dancing.’

With The Dirty Picture, the item number has gained respect, universality and recognition as a tribute to people from the margins who made it big and then came crashing down, people who messed up their lives because they messed with ‘dirt’ in more ways than one.

In sheer titillation and skin-show, Eesha Koppikar, Mallika Sherawat, Malaika Arora Khan and Urmila Matondkar make Helen’s ‘hot’ numbers seem as lukewarm as yesterday’s omelette. Helen’s dance was a direct import from the cabaret in a much-diluted, Indianised version. "Item Number" is a new genre that has also created a niche for nubile stars who do not blink when asked to gyrate in front of the camera stripped down to bare essentials.

According to Ganesh Hegde, choreographer of numbers like "Khallas", "Kambakht Ishq", "Mehboob Mere", "Tere Bina" and "Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo", an item number is something senseless that is not related to the film. It is like a break in the strenuous activity of watching a Bollywood film. People can enjoy the naach-gana, clap, throw money and then get back to the tension of the actual film. Pyar Tune Kiya became a big hit only because of the "Kambakht Ishq" number."

Researcher Sneha Kanta points out how many item numbers are performed in a vaguely defined space such as a marriage mandap, a rustic birthday party or folk festival, or even a country liquor bar. This blurs the distance between the performer and the audience within the film negotiating a new erotic chemistry between the two.

Malaika Arora’s "Munni Badnaam Hui" in Dabangg shows how clever manipulation through choreography and imaginative positioning of an item number distances the theatre audience by using the audience ‘within the film’ as the immediate ‘looker’ mediating between the performer and the theatre audience.

When an item number is performed in a definite performing space, the camera makes the performer the centre of its attention and keeps away from those who are watching her perform within the film, sometimes panning across their lust-filled faces in short reaction shots. But in dances like "Munni Badnaam Hui" or "Beedi Jalaile" performed by Bipasha Basu in Omkara, the camera and the editing extend the parameters of the dance and the frame to include the male spectators both within and without the film.

On the other hand, the "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" number in Khalnayak sets up a temporary, permissive space through a mechanism that feminist researcher Asha Kasbekar calls "noble sacrifice". One of the most widely known examples of this is in Sholay, where the heroine, Basanti (Hema Malini), dances "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" on shattered glass to save her loved one’s life. If she stops dancing, Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) will kill them both. In this way, the narrative creates conditions for a "respectable" woman to dance without compromising herself.

The sexual content of an item number is enhanced with suggestive lyrics bordering on the bawdy such as "Choli Ke Peechhey Kya Hai". Madhuri’s "Ek Do Teen Number" in Tezaab juxtaposed against this one appears like kindergarten stuff. The "Choli Ke Peechhey Kya Hai" number is packed with racy movements, heaving cleavages, pelvic thrusts and suggestive swaying of hips. The dosage of CNT (cleavage, navel and thighs) in many item numbers goes unquestioned by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The strange irony is that the CBFC comes down with hammer and tongs on lyrics they consider bawdy but not on the dance item performed to the same lyrics. The "Choli Ke Peechhey Kya Hai" number is a case in point.

Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan have changed the definition and market value of the item number in the raunchy song-and-dance "Kajara Re" in Bunty Aur Bubbly. The song has turned the traditional qwwaali on its head throwing a challenge to choreographers in Bollywood. Aishwarya, along with Shah Rukh Khan, set the screen on fire with her "Ishq Kameena" number in Shakti — The Power.

In Mrityudand, Gangajal and Apaharan, even a serious filmmaker like Prakash Jha added sizzling and no-holds-barred item numbers that left little to the audience’s fanciful imagination. Every Bollywood hero and heroine today is ready to perform item numbers to showcase their versatility. Kareena Kapoor did a sizzling number in The Don Returns. Some unforgettable items are — Koena Mitra’s "Saaki Saaki" in Musafir; Urmila Matondkar’s "Chamma Chamma" in China Gate; Sushmita Sen’s "Mehboob Mere" in Fiza and "Shaka Laka Baby" in Nayak and Katrina Kaif’s "Sheela Ki Jawani" and "Chikni Chameli". These item numbers often leave the main film behind because of the way these dancers invest the numbers with zest and vibrancy and also because of the way they are picturised and invested with electric music score with lyrics to match.

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