Item number

Actress Nathalia Kaur performing an item number in the film Department (2012)

In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Bengali cinema) to describe a catchy, upbeat, often provocative dance sequence for a song performed in a movie.[1] The main aim of an item number is to entertain movie-goers and to lend support to the marketability of the film by being featured in trailers.[2] They are favoured by filmmakers as they afford the opportunity to pick potential hit songs from the stocks, since they do not add to the continuity of the plot.[3] It is thus a vehicle for commercial success that ensures repeat viewing.[4]

An actress, singer, or dancer, especially someone who is poised to become a star, who appears in an item number is known as an item girl. While there are item boys[2] as well, women are more commonly featured in item numbers than men.[5][6]

In filmi Mumbai slang, the term item means a "sexy woman",[3] thus the original sense of "item number" is a highly sensualized song with racy, dirty imagery and suggestive lyrics.[7]

  1. ^ Journals : Item number defined Archived 7 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Barrett, Grant (2006). The official dictionary of unofficial English: a crunk omnibus for thrillionaires and bampots for the Ecozoic Age. McGraw-Hill Professional. pp. 189, 190. ISBN 0-07-145804-2.
  3. ^ a b Morey, Peter; Alex Tickell (2005). Peter Morey and Alex Tickell (ed.). Alternative Indias: writing, nation and communalism. Rodopi. p. 221, 178. ISBN 90-420-1927-1.
  4. ^ Bhattacharya Mehta, Rini; Rajeshwari Pandharipande (2010). Bollywood and Globalization: Indian Popular Cinema, Nation, and Diaspora. Anthem Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-84331-833-0.
  5. ^ Gera Roy, Anjali (2009). "The Body of New Asian Dance Music". Asia Research Institute Working Paper No. 122. SSRN. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1471101. SSRN 1471101.
  6. ^ Ghosh, Biswadeep (15 December 2010). "Biggest item numbers ever!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  7. ^ Towheed Feroze (29 September 2014). "Hypocrisy of the reel and the real". Dhaka Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.