The so called ‘Item Numbers’ have always been a part of our Hindi Cinema in the past (before 90s or 80s) in the form of Club numbers, Cabarets, Dance or Stage Shows, examples of which can be given as songs featuring Helen, Bindu and more. Plus there were also similar tracks where the heroine used to perform in the villain’s den in front of all the bad characters. But all these songs either had only few actors emoting on the screen or few people silently sitting on their tables (or anywhere else) watching the lady perform her dance or cabaret calmly without any deliberate intention to touch her repeatedly.
However post the late 90s the situation really changed in drastic terms, probably after songs such as “Main Aayi Hun UP Bihar Lootney” featured in SHOOL (1999) wherein Shilpa Shetty received a huge response for her gutsy dance performance.
And why the situation was not the same?
It was so because now we were having a so called item song where a girl was performing in the middle of around 70-100 men who were just ready to jump on her anytime exactly like some man-eaters willing to have her all. And I am sure this should rightly give you an idea what I am coming to in the next lines.
But let me start with another reference straight out of our daily routine life.
Lets assume a road side corner where few local bad elements can always be found standing, staring at the women passing by. OR may be these are some young over enthusiastic boys who just wish to have some sick fun in the middle of a busy road or market.
Now what would they do to tease the passing girls/ladies in most of the cases?
Obviously, they would only dare to make some verbal comments on her and nothing else.
Ok, then what would be their vocabulary or choice of words to do the same?
Without any doubt, 8 out of 10 times it is going to be the same popular words used in the latest “Item Songs” released in Bollywood Films like “Chikni Chameli”, “Shiela”, “Munni”, “Zandu Balm”, “Fevicol” and all that crap.
This is in fact the real truth, which can be normally witnessed in our daily life and there can be no denial to this sad fact representing our ‘Films-Influenced” society as I strongly feel. So this is the first kind of contribution made by such songs in our present society.
Coming back to the questionable choreography of such 'Item Numbers', I would just like to draw a rough picture of their onscreen presentation with some strong words here.
Songs like these primarily have 1 or 2 girls dancing on a specially decorated platform with different kinds of lighting (both dark & bright) as per the location. The platform is surrounded by around 50-100 men all watching the girl dancing with extremely lustful eyes. The track begins peacefully with a catching phrase and as it progresses, many of the spectators start making some obscene advancements towards the girl which is specifically captured by the cameraman. In some instances the girl even takes off few of her clothes and then all those men desperately try to touch her at various points of her body with big wine bottles/glasses in their hands. Later as the song reaches its crescendo, with the tempo of its music increasing constantly, the girl gets surrounded by all these men with guns, bottles and glasses in their hands willing to pick her up any moment.
The whole song just focuses on the disgusting gestures, lustful faces and obscene dance movements of all these men which then ends on a suggestive scene where either the girl gets abducted by them or she gets saved somehow and successfully manages to run away from there, leaving all the drunk men falling on the floor.
Now with such provoking and influential depiction of ‘Item Numbers’ treating women as a means of momentary entertainment only, I am forced to have my doubts that are we really progressing towards making a better society as widely believed? Or we have actually started moving backwards towards that uneducated era when men proudly considered them to be a superior species than women?
Thinking about this obnoxious presentation of a dance number (which is also there in the latest DABANGG 2, called ‘Fevicol’), I many times wonder that if the Censor Board believes that showing ‘Cigarette Smoking’ on the screen can easily inspire people to smoke then along with the shameful display of liquor consumption, cannot these provocatively shot ‘Item Numbers’ inspire them to pick a bottle and abduct a girl or rape her too????
Aren’t these especially added, avoidable sexy numbers, shot in such an awful manner, a means of influencing the dirty minds of the society to imitate the acts in their real life too?
Further, if we loudly ban ‘Pornographic Content’ in books, magazines and films to have a better society then shouldn’t these extremely suggestive songs be banned too?
Plus, who doesn’t know that these are the same songs which are being openly played by the drivers of the uncountable Private School Buses, Kinder Garden Vans and other public transport too, which may become responsible of bringing out the silent, hidden devil in any person any moment, seeing a lonely girl in his bus.
Besides, if CINEMA has always been considered to be the ‘mirror of a society’ then apparently these insulting & disrespectful songs (just added to earn some extra bucks on the cost of the society itself), bluntly show us the reality as bright as sunlight, which needs to be addressed at the earliest.
Also these ignoble ‘Item Numbers’ honestly reveal that may be partially, but they do become one of the major reasons why A Woman is being seen and treated in such a shameful manner in our present society by most of the men……………, cause we are feeling no humiliation in openly calling her a Chikni Chameli, Jalebi Bai and what not?
And finally relating this write-up with the Salman Khan’s statement on the recent inhuman rape instance in Delhi, I would like to say that if Salman truly feels that the act was really that disgusting and disturbing then first please stop including songs such as ‘Munni’ and ‘Fevicol’ in your films as your personal step towards forming a better society. Because, otherwise your ‘concerned statement’ on the ‘unfortunate event’ seems to be full of ‘Double Standards’.
With a hope of a better future ahead for our kids…..!
HIS BLESSINGS
(All Rights Reserved - 2012- Bobby Sing - bobbytalkscinema.com)
