Should Item Numbers be banned as a Concern?

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The answer to what role do item numbers play in a movie is simple. It is just a 5 minute menace having no relation with the rest of the movie but does increase the amount which the movie earns. In a usual item number, there is usually a young famous actress giving a special appearance by wearing a certain number of clothes which normal people find less in number and size. If not this then for no reason the macho hero of the movie gets drunk and starts to rip apart his shirt and dance to the worldly limits. Usually, the item numbers are based on the theme of getting wasted with some unknown girl. In any Bollywood movie, involving an item number, the whole movie makes great sense except for the item song.

The law cannot prohibit someone from making a catchy tune as it would be against his fundamental right but what I am trying to say is that the catchy tune can be made with cinematography of better things rather than some top-notch topless hero or heroine dancing with some drunk guy in a bar in a kinky way. Item numbers have known to cause only noise pollution and promote the use of alcohol in the past few years and believe it or not it will help if government bans item numbers in Bollywood movies. By removing 5 minutes of increased money inflow causing menace won’t even compromise the story of the movie. It is just that then lesser number of 5 year-olds will be singing songs like “I too sexy for for mai tere hath na aani.”

The only possible outcome of banning such unnecessary songs would a positive one by not letting people sing themselves to be some Munni who got defamed for his darling. The argument for put a bar on some director’s right to produce an item song is simple that it will be a reasonable restriction by the government to put a ban on item songs as a good item song cannot make a bad film a hit (We all know how Tees Maar Khan was.). It hasn’t even sent a good message ever so if restriction is put on such a part of the movie it can be called to be a reasonable one.

The lyrics have gone from bad to worse with every item number hitting the charts every week. Banning item numbers will promote better lyric writing rather than production of crappy music that sells.

About the Author

shivamShivam Hargunani

He is pursuing five year integrated law program from National Law University, Odisha at Cuttack.

4 COMMENTS

  1. bro i m not a fan of item numbers neither of those “leave your brain at home” kind of masala movies, & may be your concern is right but demanding a ban isn’t a solution & it directly conflicts with the our right of freedom of expression.
    Today you are demanding ban because of something didn’t pleased you, tomorrow there will be thousands others for their persona beliefs & concern after all we are a country of more than a billion.
    where do the art & artist will go ?
    Instead of looking for short term solutions every now & then, why don’t we work to become a society of better tastes & choices !

    • I am personally a big fan of item numbers and love to see women being seen in such a way..see if u go to the bottom line or the base of the problem it is sexual confusion and frustration In the “masses” of India. If you look at someone like a Ram Gopal Varma who makes some of the erotic and “vulgar” item numbers one would come across in Indian films and more often and not he features newbies rather than established
      aactresses which goes to show that it’s just a case of giving the audiences what they want..I mean how would the so-called “pervert” mind whether it’s Sunny Leone’s cleavage or some new girl? Where else would we get to see such scantily clad women if not in the movies? We are a recreation and sex-deprived society and it’s high time we grow sexually mature and stop being hypocrites and adopt such double standards..these item numbers only reflect what we Indian society are as a whole and what kind of “tastes” and fantasies we have developed thanks to years and years of moral deprivation

      • Deprivation of what ..for 2 minute pleasure want to ruin the culture of the whole society. If you want to live with only animal instinct that is ur choice, but others should not suffer, becaaz of these item songs which have been ruining the minds of who are becoming dangerously perverted, cruel than animals..literally monsters

  2. Suraj I think the idea is simple. If we sacrifice 5 minutes of our ‘creative license’ for the betterment of the societal psychology then I personally feel that it’s not asking too much. The art and artist is certainly not present in an ‘item song’. This won’t be a short term solution if you think about it- we are not just banning an ‘item number’, we are banning the message it conveys to the machismo of the nation- a message that says that it’s absolutely fine if you get drunk and take advantage of a female nearby, or that it’s ok to stare down at someones cleavage and posterior on the streets and malls and indulge in rustic name calling, a message that goes out to adolescent boys that this is the real definition of being a man, and to adolescent girls that this is what is required in order to attract men. We can’t just procrastinate on working on bettering the society and improving the average tastes and choices without actually doing anything materially significant. Understood that banning item songs is just one way to look at it, even it falls way below the ladder of things that can actually make a difference, but it is still a way. The recent media/public outroar regarding Honey Singh shows that the society is ready to tackle the situation of safety and security of women from a different perspective, to chop it off at the base; item songs with lyrics that imply a woman masturbating comes pretty close to Honey Singh in terms of substance. Give me one reason why should not do away with this, apart from it being foot-tapping number.

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