Item Number - History

History

Item number was introduced in Bollywood by Vyjayanthimala and Padmini, however the former was the one who establish the item numbers in films. She introduced semi-classical dance in her film featuring herself. Some of her famous songs which predated the concept of item number are "Man dole mera tan dole" from Nagin, "Ab Aage Teri Marzi" and "O Jaanewale Ruk Jaa" from Devdas, "Kaho Ji Tum Kya Kya Kharidoge" from Sadhna, "Chadh Gayo Paapi Bichhua" from Madhumati, "Neele Gagan Ki Chaoon Tale" from Amrapali and "Hothon pe aisi baat" from Jewel Thief. Besides that, her dance number with Padmini in "Kannum Kannum Kalanthu" and "Aaja To Aaja" from Vanjikottai Valiban and Raj Tilak respectively were critically acclaimed, where the popularity of the songs surpasses the popularity of the films and was regarded as the best dance sequence in Indian cinema, similarly her dance number with Helen in "Aaye Haaye Dilruba" and "Muqabala Humse Naa Karo" from Dr. Vidya and Prince respectively was also popular. Her dance number was still adored by actresses, such as Hema Malini and Madhuri Dixit, choreographers, such as Prabhu Deva and Saroj Khan.

Up to the 1970s, Bollywood often relied on the figure of the vamp, usually a cabaret dancer, or a tawaif (prostitute) or a gangster's moll, to provide sexually explicit musical entertainment. While the heroine too did sing and dance, it was the vamp who wore more revealing clothes, smoked, drank and sang in bold terms of sexual desire. She was portrayed not as being wicked but as the naughty, sexually alluring, immodest woman, erotic in her dance performances. The trend was started by Cuckoo in films like Awaara (1951), Aan (1952) and Shabistan (1951).

Helen was by far the most popular vamp of that era, having had performed in scores of item numbers including such popular songs as "Mera Naam Chin-Chin Choo" from the film Howrah Bridge (1958), "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" from Caravan (1971), "Mehbooba Mehbooba" from Sholay (1975) and "Yeh Mera Dil" from Don (1978). In films like Gunga Jumna and Zindagi the actor performed semi-classical Indian dances in songs like "Tora man bada paapi" and "Ghungarwa mora chham chham baaje". A desi bar number, "Mungra Mungra" from Inkaar was also immensely popular. In addition to her skillful dancing, her anglicised looks too helped further the vamp image.

Zeenat and I had full-fledged roles right from our first films. They might not have been pivotal roles, but they weren't item-songs and dance numbers either. We were the only ones who broke the trend of the archetypal heroine's role, and even carried off roles of modern dancers in clubs during an age where the audiences' weren't exposed to such things.

In the early part of the 1970s actresses Bindu, Aruna Irani and Padma Khanna entered into what was Helen's monopoly. Thereafter, Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi too entered the arena. Both Aman and Babi have been credited for bringing the Western heroine look to Hindi cinema. Female actors such as her have brought about modernity with their portrayal of westernised liberated young women. Another noted feature of this era was the "tribal and banjara" item numbers such as the one in the Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman and Rex Harrison starer Shalimar. Such songs provided the necessary settings for the lead couple's love to bloom.

Around the 1980s the vamp and the heroine merged into one figure and the lead actress had begun to perform the bolder numbers, like Pyar ka Tohfa tera picturised on Jaya Prada in hit film, Tohfa (1984). The vampy item girls were thus outpaced by the heroines performing item numbers. This eventual demise of the vamp marked the increasing social acceptance of sexually explicit dancing for the morally respected heroine.

The craze for "tribal and banjara" item numbers were soon gave way to slick choreography. In the late 1990s, with the proliferation of film songs based television shows, film producers had come to realise that an exceptional way to entice audiences into theaters was by spending excessively on the visualization of songs. Hence regardless of the theme and plot, an elaborate song and dance routine involving spectacularly lavish sets, costumes, special effects, extras and dancers would invariably be featured in a film. It was asserted that this contributed highly to the film's "repeat value".

Madhuri Dixit is often considered to be the pioneer of the modern trend. In the late 1980s, the song "Ek Do Teen" was added to the movie Tezaab as an afterthought, but it transformed Dixit and made her a superstar. Her partnership with choreographer Saroj Khan has resulted in numerous hits including the controversial "Choli ke peeche kya hai" and "Dhak dhak" (Beta). Soon after the release of the film Khalnayak, there were press reports stating that people were seeing the film again and again but only till the song "Choli ke peeche kya hai" that featured Dixit.

Although there have been many songs that fit the descriptions of item numbers in the early and mid-1990s, the term itself was coined when Shilpa Shetty danced for "Main Aai Hoon UP Bihar Lootne" in the movie Shool. This is perhaps the first time the media actually referred to Shetty as an "item girl" and the scene as an "item number".