After the Munni madness comes Sheila Ki Jawani josh. Dissecting the item number concept that is setting movie screens on fire all across the country
After the Munni madness comes Sheila Ki Jawani josh. Dissecting the item number concept that is setting movie screens on fire all across the country
You have to hand it to Katrina Kaif. Sheu00a0 got rid of allu00a0 her British contoursu00a0 and proved she's a pucca desi girl in Sheila Ki Jawani. 
Katrina Kaif shows off her belly button in Sheila Ki Jawani
The latkas-jhatkasu00a0amidst the pots and the matkas in the inspiring company of Akshay Kumar did not come easily to Katrina. She gotu00a0 herselfu00a0 a belly danceru00a0 tou00a0 makeu00a0 her belly button acquire au00a0 life of its own.
She lost weight and sheu00a0 gained that glorious and gorgeous gait to makeu00a0 the men drool andu00a0 women smirk in the darkness of the auditorium. 
Malaika rocks the house in Munni
This, just months after Katrina's would-have-been sister-in-law Malaika Arora sizzled on screen with Munni Badnaam Hui.
Sigh. Zara Hottie kay zara bach kay yeh hai Item-bomb meri jaan!
Sallu connection
Is it just a coincidence that the three most cherished 'item' song queens in recent times have some kind of connect with Salman Khan? There was Aishwarya Rai Bachchan jivingu00a0 to Kajra Re in Bunty Aur Babli three years ago withu00a0 her future husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan. Now there is Malaika's Munni and Katrina's Sheila act.
Kajra effect
No one expected Kajra re would beu00a0 such a rage. It spawned a virtual explosion of item songs ranging from Mallika Sherawat's clumsily performed Maiya Maiya in Guru to Malaika Arora's raunchy but ravishing Honth Raseele Tere Honth Raseele in Welcome where Anil Kapoor pranced all around Malaika. There areu00a0 item songs and there are I-thumka-songs.u00a0 If you throw in a raunchy desi-folk beat into the item song like Shilpa Shetty's Main Aayee Hoon UP Bihar Lootne in Shool, Aishwarya's Kajra re and Malaika's Munni, you have a sure'shout' winner on your hands.
Item, huh?
This is where the battleu00a0 between Munni and Sheilau00a0 really hots up. Though Katrina dances like a dream in Sheila Ki Jawani most experts feel the song is too urbane, chic and slick to make an impact in the interiors of the country.
But Katrina has a peculiar protest against Sheilau00a0 Ki Jawani being termed an item song. Says the sizzler, "How can Sheila beu00a0 an item song? I play an item girl in Tees Maar Khan. But I am there throughout the film as the leading lady and I have a number of songs and dances. Isn't an item song one appearance by an actor and actress, like Shah Rukh Khan's opening-credits number in Karan Johar's Kaal or Lara Dutta's Aisa Jadoo Dala Re in Khakee?"
One 'n' gone
Katrina makes a valid point. How do we define theu00a0 item song? It continues to be the domain of any top actress (and sometimes actor too) sweeping into sight for one song and then vanishing leaving a lingering impact. By this definition Madhubala's immortal Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya in Mughal-e-Azam does not qualify as an item song. Hema Malini's Mujra in Pradeep Sarkar's Laga Chunri Mein Daag and Joothe Nain Bole inu00a0 Gulzar's Lekin are item songs because Hema came, danced and vanished from the plot.
Sequins, feathers
So, which is theu00a0 firstu00a0 item songu00a0 ofu00a0 Hindi commercial cinema? Long before Munni
Badnam Hui darling box office ke liye, there was Mumtaz in a 1970 potboiler called Humjoli. She performed the first item song by a leading lady in Bollywood. The film starred Jeetendra and Leena Chandavarkar. But there was a situation in the plot where Jeetendra needed to make his girl jealous by dancing withu00a0 another girl, the hotter the better.u00a0 The makers wereu00a0 thinking onu00a0 the lines of the obvious. Helen, the ultimate item girl. But the ever-enterprising Jeetu had a brainwave.
Why not hisu00a0 pal Mumu? That's how commercial Hindi cinema's first title song; Tik Tiki Tiki Mera Dil Dole in Humjoli was born. The ever-bindaas Mumtaz got into the feathers,u00a0 sequins and a body stocking that was meantu00a0 for Helen. And boy, did she sizzle!
A rage
Today, the item song is just not the same. Is it a victim of overkill? Koena Mitra who has performed au00a0 couple ofu00a0 them seems to think so. Now in Los Angeles for the past few months, Koena says, "The item numberu00a0 is justu00a0 notu00a0 interestingu00a0 any more. Any and every one isu00a0 doing it. What's the big deal? It has lost its exclusivity. I am done withu00a0 item songs. Let the others do it."u00a0 Raveena Tandonu00a0 performed an item song Shaher Ki Ladki wayu00a0 back in 1996 in the film Rakshak. It was au00a0 rage. Raveena says, "I had just gone through a period of personal stress and neededu00a0 to getu00a0 out ofu00a0 it. Suneil Shetty who was the hero of Rakshak recommended me for the song. I was like ufffd waaaat? But he convinced me. And I did Shaher Ki Ladki. My God! What a rage it was!"
Go on
Tou00a0 this day Raveena is referred to as the Shaher ki ladki . Raveena isu00a0 not toou00a0 pleased withu00a0 today's item songs. She says though that they are here to stay. "But I don't think item songs will getu00a0 outdated. Jab tak suraj chand rahega tab tak Basanti nachegi! Jokes apart, I think the sizzle will never go out of the item song. Look at Kareena in Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana (Don) or Katrina in Sheila Ki Jawani (Teesu00a0 Maar Khan) ufffdwow! Item girls will come item girls go, but the heroes will go onu00a0 forever, ha ha." Raveena says the item song will only get hotter by the Friday, "It will beu00a0 a case of one-up-woman-ship. Every heroine will outdo theu00a0 previous one in terms of oomph andu00a0 jhatkas. It's a music-driven industry. We cannot do away with item songs."
No tension
Raj Kumar Santoshi who practically patented the item song by having piping-hot numbers in each of his films, Urmila Matondkar's Chamma Chamma in China Gate and Aaaiye Aa Jaiye in Lajja, Lara Dutta's Aisa Jadoo Dala Re in Khakee, says the item song has not lost its sheen due to overuse. Says Santoshi, "Look at Munni Badnaam. You can't deny that song's role Dabangg's success. I'll continue to put an item song whenever Iu00a0 need to break the tension in my drama."
No questions
The ultimate item girl or the IT girl as she was known, was Helen whose cabaret numbers warmed up the box office potential of scores of films in the 1960s and 70s right until her drizzle of sizzle in Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana in 1978 in the film Don.
u00a0Helen once reminisced that she never thought ofu00a0 heru00a0 numbers as item numbers. "I just did what I was asked to. I never questioned the choreographer. But I made sure Iu00a0 never crossedu00a0 the line of decency."
Zeroed in
All Helen's cabaret numbers were performed under strict self-censorship codes. Every inch of unclothedu00a0 skin was covered in body stocking. The dance movements never crossed the limits of decency. Andu00a0 pelvic thrusts which are almost mandatory to the average item song today, wereu00a0 a complete no-no for Helen.
Ironically Helen's repertoire of cabaret dances were never given the status of dignity and grace in their heyday that they are given today.
While in the past, Helen's dances were often accused of being off colour, today, they are looked on as the epitome of grace and decorum. Recently when Ekta Kapoor needed a new-age Helen for her 1970s retro-gangster film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai she auditioned dozens of wannabe Helens and finally zeroed in on Gauhar Khan who did scant justice to Monica, Oh my darling.
Toast them
Guess we need more power for the item girl to rise and shine to a place where Helen's magic took those immortal cabaret numbers like Aa Jaan-e-Jaan (Inteqam), Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan) and Mehbooba oh Mehbooba (Sholay).
It is plain to see that love them or hate them; most
filmmakers can't do without them.
Yeh jaam item numbers ke naam.
In Pakistan, Munni is political tool
Munni Badnam Hui has found a place in the political circles of Pakistan with politicians from leading parties using the hit Bollywood item song to take a swipe at one another.
Speaking at a party function, ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said, "We are being blamed for the wrong doings of others."
In an obvious dig at the opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), he said, "Our situation is such that we can only say, 'Munni badnam hui darling tere liye'."
Punjab Law Minister and PML-N stalwart Rana Sanaullah was quick to latch on to the opportunity.
"What a pity that the PPP leader has termed the entire party as Munni," he said, adding that, "this Munni is not getting a bad name because of darling but because of her own actions."
Munni, a mother of two, has been unable to open her little shop in Lahore since the song.
First it was the boys in the neighbourhood, and then the men got wind of the popular song from Salman Khan's film, and they would all come to Munni's store and sing " Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye" and embarrass her.
"Every now and then someone will come to my store and say 'Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye' in front of my customers.
First I didn't pay much attention and tried to ignore it, but then it became a routine and I started to get irritated," Munni, the store owner, is reported to have said.
"Even sober and reserved people have sung this song loudly while passing by my store. I have scolded many of them but they just laugh and run away.
u00a0
Finally, I couldn't take this behaviour anymore and closed my shop for several days.
It has been two months and either I don't open my store or if I do open, then I don't sit at the counter myself," she said. Munni's personal life too has been affected because of the song.
"Many times they (boys) play it (song) on tape to tease me. This song has really become a nightmare for me," she said.
The story has been much the same for Shahida Munni, a school principal in Lahore.
Shahida is having a nightmarish time in school with students breaking into the Munni song after setting eyes on her.
"While walking in my neighbourhood, I am always scared that someone will start to sing the song. Most of the time my fears become reality as many boys either sing the song loudly or play it on the stereo," she said.
u00a0
"They do it for fun. I don't understand how teasing someone can be fun for people. I am sick of this now and want this to come to an end," Shahida said.
This isn't the first time women have had to face problems because of the mention of their all too common names in a song.
Popular Punjabi singer Abrarul Haq was once directed by Pakistan's Supreme Court to change the lyrics of his song because the name, "Parveen" embarrassed many women with the name.
Bollywood numbers with people's names
But, Pappu can't dance saala (several anguished real life Pappus protested that they could dance).
Monica O My Darling (the song became very popular at the height of revelations about Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky).
Urvashi, Take it Easy Policy (Several Urvashi's across the country were exasperated when the song was belted out at times when they were irked about something).
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