The Rise and Fall of the Bollywood Item Girl
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Assist indian farmers striking for their livelihoods:
www.khalsaaid....
www.sahaita.or...
www.gofundme.c...
from cuckoo moray to helen richardson khan to rakhi sawant to katrina kaif, "item girls" have provided a goldmine of entertainment, marketability, and absolute bangers for decades of bollywood cinema. but are they a dying breed? is the title just clickbait? who knows!
STTM- Stories Told Through Movement video on the history of Bollywood item girls
• The 1960s Bollywood Hi...
Cuckoo: Bollywood's First Item Girl | Tabassum Talkies
• Cuckoo: Bollywood's Fi...
The Life of Cuckoo Moray
cineplot.com/cu...
The Line of Control in Contemporary Bombay Cinema, Sharmila Sen.
archive.org/de...
The Body of New Asian Dance Music
papers.ssrn.co...
“I've no problems with the item no.”: Helen Richardson Khan
www.santabanta...
Helen: The Original ‘Item Girl,’ Long before Bollywood Even Knew What That Meant
www.vagabomb.c...
The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy: Men Who Perceive Women's Nurturance and Sexuality as Mutually Exclusive Endorse Patriarchy and Show Lower Relationship Satisfaction
doi.org/10.100...
A HISTORY OF BOLLYWOOD: ITEM NUMBERS
www.mirchiplay...
Most popular movie genres among adults in the United States as of December 2018, by gender
www.statista.c...
actually i am exhausted by the concept of item numbers and do hope they are on their way out personally. can't we have dance music without All This. no matter what spin you put on it, objectification of women is the main point of item numbers to me. and i am simply done with it! but that's just one thing among a billion wrong with bollywood and its relationship with women 🙄 great essay as always! loved the variety of sources you consulted. and your tangents are fine, i like them
ok tea! i feel like bollywood is so married to the concept that we'll have to pry it out of their cold dead hands but i'm ready for it 💪🏽😏
@@cherrybepsi taking down the hindi film industry with bestie
I know this seems so nitpicky but I feel like there are very very few item songs with an empowering angle. The whole "you can only look but you can't touch" "I am unbothered by these men watching me and I'm dancing really only for myself" can be read as agency but when you look at the producers and writers and how they are primarily male, it's arguably just another male fantasy. *cue the Margaret Atwood quote* but again I don't mean to say women can't read it as empowering, that's fine and well. I just don't think they are written or put forward that way.
I definitely agree with your sentiment here. At the end of the day most people in power (producers, directors and other executives) are still mostly male so these songs are mostly seen through a male lense.
I will admit though, My Name Is Sheila does weirdly empower me. That song, in my opinion at least, just radiates self-love and confidence
please do more bollywood commentary videos, they’re so good! 🥺🤲🏽
dw i plan to 😌💖
you know, it's interesting that you pointed out the empowerment angle of the "item" girl. Take Choli ke peechay kya hai for instance - a teacher in one of my classes told us that there was a bit of a public furore when it released, because a lot of people gave it a queer reading- which I mean, the entire song is one woman asking another woman what's behind her choli, don't know how I missed that as a queer woman 😂 which sort of made me think, maybe there is more nuance here than just plain objectification? it's a weak take ik, but I feel like there's a difference between bangers like Kajra Re versus songs like Baby doll or something which are purely incorporated for pandering to male audiences. Like why is it now acceptable for the main female leads to perform these dance numbers?
great video btw, instantly subscribed!
That's such a good point about Choli ke Peechay! I can't believe it didn't cross my mind either lmaooo. Also I know baby doll is totally meant to be male pandering but the song is such a bop I can't stop listening 😭 But yeah a sapphic reading of women in item songs (and some of these het Bollywood movies in general) is really worth taking a closer look at 🤔 Ty for this comment!
yeah as much as most songs are just objectifying women and don't make sense on the other hand there are many songs that are written beautifully and are not even that bad, its just because recent "item" songs are bad people have clubbed songs with just women performing somewhere with the bad item songs.
but all these songs are so god damn catchy that I can't stop listening to them
It means choli ke peeche is not good song and empowering?
are item songs rooted in sexism and objectification of women? yes. are they bops? also yes 😔.
also i feel like 'kajra re' with aishwarya rai and 'beedi jaleyi le' with bipasha basu were turning points in contemporary item numbers. a lot of people felt that aishwarya overshadowed rani (the main lead) with just one song and since then, a lot of actresses have begun to appear in these songs such as kareena in ;fevicol se' and katrina in 'chikni chameli'. 'beedi jaleyi le' was a big hit in its own right and the movie omkara was literally rewinded in smaller theatres so audiences could watch the song again and again.
Great video, and the implications of sasuke being an item girl was a nice touch
10/ 10 viddie, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
thank you and yeah him and gaara get Busy
the part about item boys was interesting bc in western media i've seen a lot of people talking about how the female gaze like doesn't really exist or maybe it does but the examples that a lot of people use like action heros that are forced to diet and work out to be ripped on screen are actually still male fantasy. maybe the one example i can think of where the man and the woman seem to be equal is ang laga de from ram-leela
yeah i remember similar discourse around how henry cavill had to i think go without water for a few days before filming shirtless scenes for the witcher! while i'm sure it was partly for the benefit of the het women in the audience, the focus on making his muscles "pop" and making the lead super cool and hot in general is also wish fulfillment for the male audience watching imo
I was also thinking of the lead male entrance scene in Raam Leela! That's as close to a true "Item Boy" as I think it gets. It does still come off like a male fantasy, cause the whole scene is just like "look how awesome I am, I can drive a motorcycle with now hands! Also I am super buff and hot!" although I love how Leela completely disarms all his bloviating with a stolen kiss and leaves him speechless.
Then again, I also wonder if maybe some of the appeal of Item Girls, for women, is that it can be our own fantasy. To believe in a world where we're the sexy starlet, like a man might want to believe in being a sexy hero. I guess we just tend to have slightly different fantasies, but we all dream of being drop dead hot lol
Item is used as a derogatory term and women are usually fit into two categories by men in India, we are either "items" or pure virgins. Item, in a way, means "slut" (nothing wrong with being a slut, im all for reclamation of misogynistic slurs, and that's the point. Its a misogynistic slur and men shouldn't use it on women to shame us). I really think the term should go away, provocative/sexy dancing is a form of art and there's just as much work and effort that goes into it as "divine feminine pure virgin" dances. The whole point of item numbers is to please horny men and it inevitably profits a bunch of middle aged or old rich men. I definitely think the focus on item numbers should shift from it being an insert to bring in male crowd to the theatres to something of an art and empowerment.
I also think its empowering in a way. Shes the woman from your wildest dreams, she's the woman who you know you can never have but she "seems" reachable, but just as you're about to get ahold of her, you realise she's a thousand steps away from you and gets a thousand steps away from you every time you get close. Shes not a trophy you can win and take home sorta thing, this applies to both the Madonna and the "whore", but its considered by misogynistic men (and even a lot of women TBH, like my mom and aunt) to be much more valuable and respectable in the Madonna because of her sexually inexplicit nature, while its considered arrogant and conceited in a "whore" because of her sexually expressive nature, she's considered to be "a choosy beggar", which is extremely disrespectful and disgusting. Men and their misogyny suck.
But I also understand there's a sexist element to it that needs out.
omg, this was really nice, as an Indian I never really thought about it like this.
yeah like i always just kinda glazed over the item songs and then recently i was like wait a min.....
Commenting after coming across the tumblr post its so sick that larger channels can just plagiarise from smaller creators considering how copyright obsessed this platform is. Hope you get the acknowledgement for this amazing well researched video!🤓 p.s my favorite "item girl" or I guess more so heroine's performance would be Vyjayanthimala in Amrapali
Sasuke IS an item boy
Let's call them it girls.
great video! I'm so happy to find a youtuber doing good Bollywood vids in English lol. item numbers are definitely sexist but I still tend to like them as guilty pleasures, often just because the item number is the best song on a film's soundtrack. I think my favorite is Kajra Re from Bunty aur Babli, the song is so good and I love the cinematography and staging of the scene. maybe a good way to update the concept would just be to start making more 'item boy' numbers? that are actually as objectified as the female equivalent? I feel like Om Shanti Om tried with Dard-e-Disco, and tbh I think Tiger Shroff has a few songs like that as well (my terrible at acting king.) hope you do more Bollywood content soon!
I'm also laughing at madonna/horse complex. I only recently got monetized too and I feel the pain lmao
first time disagreeing with you, I think we should get rid of item songs. good music can be in any setting idk idk
tea i only said that so the bollywood brigade wouldn't come for me 😪🙏🏽
@@cherrybepsi fair enough lmao
🔥🔥🔥 comments for the engagement 🔥🔥🔥 great video I’m impressed by the obvious amount of research! It’s cool to hear what ur passionate & knowledgeable about
thank you for the engagement AND the nice words 👼🏽💞
i am today years old when i realised 'mere nam chin chin chu' is racist.
so interesting! I really appreciate the way you explain things, and the memes add so much honestly 😂😭🥺💖 I'm so tired of unnecessarily academic video essays lol and yours hits such a sweet spot of incredibly well-researched and academically sound but still entertaining and digestible ❤️
omg yay! that's always the goal honestly 🤧💖
great video as usual!! super interesting perspectives and I liked how u went into some theory without it being alienating and Super Academic.. you're so right about the term being horrible like i never thought about it much before but now i cant unsee. i do love the songs like they are bona fide BANGERS but maybe they should ease up on the uh misogyny and objectification just a little (a lot) anyways loved the video cant wait for what u put out next and also HAPPY BELATED BDAY!! hope u had a lovely day
I'm gonna be honest, not too familiar with Bollywood movies at all (I watched Jab We Met because of your video though so yay!) but this was a really interesting video and I liked it
thank you!!
loving your content but just paused the video to point out the outstanding visual for "madonna horse complex."
omg yes i love this i was just explaining to my dad how gross it is while he came upon one of the songs, spoiler alert, he came up w the classic catch all get away with anything argument "its just a ...."
such a great video!! i learned a lot, super interesting
thank you!! 😇💕
tbh i hate item numbers. even if they can be empowering sometimes, i hate them. lyrics like “main toh tandhoori murgi hu yar” are soo derogatory. i’ve seen these songs since my a childhood and they’ve always made me uncomfortable. i can’t help but think how these actresses feel when they’re surrounded by 1000 men pretending to fawn over them and are the only woman on camera for the whole song *cough* chikni chameli *cough*
Happy birthday queen!! Also I am vibrating thinking about a baahubali video I would like to see it
omg i'm glad hehe 💞
this was interesting, i am not very familar with Bollywood movies and fandom so while I have seen scenes that would fit I never heard the term before. also i like the sarcasm makers in the subtitles, thats good stuff.
Thanks for making and sharing.
thank you! i'm glad it helps 👼🏽
I never fully listened to fevicol song
My full body hurt after listening two lines
I was in the theatre, I didn’t get that choice 😭😭
Even tho i have only one braincell im still smart enough to not waste my money on salmonella bhai
But not gonna danced like hell whenever the song was played in any holi , visarjan or new years
That song mera naam chun chun chu I don't know why I always found it racist. It's like they are making fun of a Chinese name because they don't know how to pronounce it correctly. 🙄
thank u for the subtitles btw 💗
of course!! i just figured out how to do them lmao so i'll have to go back to my old videos and do those too at some point 🙏🏽
hey this is so good and well-researched !!
great and informative video
i don't know a lot about bollywood but i do know choli ke peeche kya hai is a bop 🔥
it sure is 😌
Great video, and great humor as always. So sorry that ur content got stolen by a larger channel.
Bollywood!!!
i really dislike the term "item" being used to refer to people because it's not even objectification, it's just straight up turning them into objects
this is so well-researched and presented, thank you i learned a lot
thank you for watching 🥰
this is an excellent video. (so good in fact, corporate entities apparently wish it was theirs 🙄) this is a topic I'm not super familiar with, but you explained everything so well and it felt like I came out with a clearer understanding than when I came into it. top tier 👏
ahhh i’m so excited for this 💗💕
🙈❤️
nora fatehi is killing it rn >>>
I tried to watch Kal Ho Na Ho a while back, not really having watched Bollywood movies except a few when I was young, and that you know what song in the bar immediately turned me off and I wasn’t expecting it to. I was just expecting it to be a bop, one I knew was likely coming too. But like, I really just didn’t care. Idk maybe bc I’m not like 7 yrs old and impressionable anymore, but almost 23, it just didn’t hit.
im not done with the entirety of this video yet so i don't know if you do end up bringing this up, but there's a belief in a lot of anti-caste circles that item numbers started as an appropriation of the dancing and artforms practised by marginalised bahujan artists (mostly women). and even now, the item girl and her appearance is mostly based on stereotypically "adivasi", "Banjara" or other looks sported by lower caste artists. In Marathi cinema this is very blatant, as the folk tradition of tamasha was appropriated by high caste, mostly Brahmin and Maratha filmmakers into their movies. There's a paper by i think Sharmila Rege on this too
Commenting for the algorithm. Love your videos, hope you're doing well
Such an insightful video. I would love to see you do more bollywood movie videos. They are really fun
This confused the shit out of me in Bunty aur Bubbly but I will say I really loved the song.
loved the video and happy birthday!!!!!!!
thank you! 💖
Thanks for making these videos
thank you for watching! 💞
I really loved this video. I would love to watch more bollywood analysis videos on this channel. Subscribed!
That was very interesting. Good video.
Do you have any good Bollywood movie recommendations? :)
yea! some of my favs are 1) jab we met (obvi hehe) 2) 3 idiots 3) khoobsurat 4) om shanti om 5) dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge ❤
Just heard what happened, here to only support you!~
The real item girl is Rakhi Sawant ❤❤❤
Tollywood Telugu both r same. Tollywood is industry name. Telugu is the language
yes i was listing the language after the industry, not naming a new industry
Need to come back and finish this!
I kind of have a weird fascination with Item Girls. They're clearly meant to make you ogle a hot woman, but I've seen so many of them take the Item Girl and make a really amazing statement. They tend to be filmed fabulously and can be a joy to watch. Choli Ke Piche is probably one of my favorite Item Girl moments of all time. They Lyrics are so sassy, I love it! I also find the Bollywood version of "Madonna-Whore Complex" to be really interesting as a social commentary.
Plus, I don't think there is inherently something wrong with sexy musical numbers. I think the problem is when they tend to focus on pandering to one gender at the expense of another. I think we can keep the sexy "item" number and that sexuality can be an important part of a story, but make it a more even playing field.
really informative and interesting video! happy birthday
thank you!! 💕
material gworls
I’ll say my fav is Helen
This is really good stuff!
Great video on a subject I knew nothing about! It's interesting and clearly well-researched, not to mention well-presented. Thanks for sharing
I would love a video on bahubali
😏
ooooh sorry im late but sheila ki jawani would perhaps have been the perfect example for saranya subramaniam's perspective?
happy birthday queen
thank you so much 🥰
A very good video and happy late birthday! Also, what was the movie where the guy lifted that heavy stone thing?
Baahubali! it's a Tollywood movie series and absolutely off the walls, would definitely rec 😌
@@cherrybepsi thank you!
this is such an interesting and good analysis omg
thank you so much! 🥰❤️
'It Girl' miiiight be roughly in the same neighborhood as 'Item Girl' but I fear that 'It Girl' may be at the very least equally dehumanizing. 'Marketing Girl' would probably be the most accurate alternative name, given the intended nature of the songs.
✨👻🌀🌀 engaging with the video 🌀🌀👻✨
the video was amazing as usual mandeep i love how much effort u put into them🥺
ily fi 🥺💖
this is excellent!! belated happy birthday!! loved the video so much
*engages* also happy birthday i hope you have a lovely day!!❣
Thank you! You're so sweet :')
Great video!!
👏👏
Helen
This is soo nice
Happy birthday
thank you 💞
Sending you lots of love. Sorry your video was hijacked ❤️❤️❤️