What's an item number?

"The classic meaning of "item number" refers to highly sexualized songs with racy imagery and suggestive lyrics. The "item number" would feature an "item girl" who appeared in the film as a dancer, usually in a bar or nightclub, and was only in the film for the length of that song." Kareena in item number Kareena Kapoor is the new item girl. After pulling out a hot sizzling number in Don, she seems to be flooded with more such offers. But she seems to have finalized only one. She will be doing an item number in Lovely Singh’s debut movie Kya Love Story Hai produced by N.R. Pachisia. Lovely Singh is an ex-assistant director to Satish Kaushik and has assisted him on films like Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, Badhai Ho Badhai, Tere Naam, Shaadi Se Pehle. Kareena considers Lovely to be a friend and she is known to be protective about her friends, Lovely is no different. Their friendship goes back a long way since Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai days. Even in Milenge Milenge, Lovely’s last film as an assistant, Kareena plays the lead role. It seems Kareena really wanted to be a part of the project as she herself would feel bad about not being a part of a friend’s film. Well, if Kareena agrees to do an item number, expect nothing short of fireworks. She has been getting rave reviews for her looks in Don and even better reviews for the way she carries herself and dances on the song Yeh Mera Dil. Lets hope Kareena lives up to the magic of an item girl even in Kya Love Story Hai.

All about Item Number(Bombs)

Make a 'dance' appearance in a film and you become an 'item bomb'! Performing item numbers dates back to the times when yesteryear cabaret queen Helen left her fans gasping with number like 'Mungda', 'Piya tu', and so on. The only difference being she was never termed as an item girl. The film industry today argues that the sensuous damsel exuded an aura of class, putting her in a league of her own. Well, today we have many 'so to speak' item girls. You definitely remember Isha Koppikar termed as an item girl with her 'Khallas' and 'Ishq Samandar' numbers! Well, then we had loads of them. Sameera Reddy rocked with her 'Rabba Rabba' in Musafir and is still rocking high. And how can we forget Malaika Arora doing 'Chaiyya Chaiyya'? Wasn't it breath taking? Koena Mitra has too made waves with 'Saaki Saaki' in Musafir. To top it all, Abhishek broke the norms of a female doing an item number with 'One Love'. Bollywood definitely knows how to keep the show going... Today, doing an item number is considered a doorway to getting meaty roles as actresses in films. So, you find Momaith Khan sizzle to the song 'Dekh Le' in Munnabhai MBBS, Negar Khan scratch her bum in the hot-hot remix 'Chadti Jawaani' and Yana Gupta sizzle to the tunes of 'Babuji Dheere Chalo' in E Niwas's Dum. The so-called item girls differ in their views about doing dance numbers. Momaith Khan says: "Item numbers tend to become a rage even if the film doesn't do all that well at the box office and the dancer can then graduate to doing full-fledged roles". However, you realise that Bollywood has still a long way to go when 'once an item number dancer' Sameera Reddy said that she has crossed the stage where she needed to expose (Sameera was the main female lead inMusafirwith Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt). Isha Koppikar who rose to stardom after her number 'Khallas' in Company became a rage managed to immediately grab another song 'Ishq Samundar' from Kaante. However, she makes it a point to add: "Although I came into the film industry with an item song, I feel I have grown over a period of time. There's certainly more to me than just item songs and I would like people to know me as a complete actor," she says. Well, whatever said and done, these ambitious girls with the label of 'item bombs' are here to stay in their pursuit of establishing their niche in the 'Big Bad World of Bollywood'. So, let's just sit back and chill!

Bollywood's Item Numbers: Boon Or Bane?

Aishwarya Rai's sensual gyrations in the hot-hot "Ishq kameena..." number in the soon-to-be-released Karisma kapoor-starrer Shakti - The Power has left the film's lead actress and her co-star Sanjay Kapoor piqued. Film trade experts say a similar dispute had cropped up - with more severe outcome - when filmmaker Raj Kumar Santoshi aggressively promoted actress Urmila Matondkar's item number Chamma Chamma in China Gate , leaving the film's leading actress Mamta Kulkarni in the shadows.In Bollywood, item numbers have had a long and illustrious history dating back to the days when Helen and Bindu numbers held their own attraction at the marquees - a time when no top actress worth her salt would perform such a revealing dance sequence. In the 1980s, numbers like Ek do teen... that was added to in Tezaab as an afterthought, transformed Madhuri Dixit into an overnight success.Then came Tamma Tamma (Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt) that made the presence of one such chartbuster in every film a necessity.The earliest example of a typical item number as is known today is Mamta Kulkarni's adrenal pumping Koi jaye to ley hai... number in.... Source of this article is BWV