E-Paper
Item numbers move on
Until recently, "item numbers" were dominated by oomphs only but now brawns and beefcakes are ready to hop into the bandwagon.
Until recently, "item numbers" in films were restricted to the women, but this trend is changing now.
The 'item girls' included Shilpa Shetty's appearance in the Main ayee hoo UP Bihar lootne number in Shool that made audiences drool. Isha Koppiker re-invented both the "item" song and her career with Khallas in Company and Lara Dutta jolted viewers with her Aisa jadoo number in Khakee.
In between, there was Urmila Matondkar's double-deckered delight Chamma chamma in China Gate and Aayiye aa jaiyiye in Lajja.
More recently, Koena Mitra and Yana Gupta have sizzled the screen with numbers like Nikal le bhaiya in Road and Babujee in Dum.
Suddenly, the titillation equation has shifted from women to men.
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Urmila's double-deckered |
In the ready-for-release
Dhoom
, the "item" song that's playing round-the-clock emphasises brawn and beefcake instead of oomph. While Tata Young sizzles, three men take turns to act cosy with her.
"And why not? Since a majority of our viewers are women, why should the item numbers only be targeted at male audiences?" asks Arjun Sablok, who shot the Dhoom music video that is playing round-the-clock on TV channels.
"I think we've had enough of that. In my Dhoom video, I've deliberately emphasised Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Uday Chopra as much as Tata Young. Women in the audience enjoy watching brawn as much as the men enjoy cheesecake," Sablok contends.
Though the Dhoom promotional video was meant only for television it will be included as part of the end-titles when the film releases next week.
