What if Men danced for Bollywood Item Songs?
Have you ever wondered what it would look like if half nude men dance on Bollywood item numbers today? I’m sure everyone knows what an item number in a Bollywood movie is? Right? Some of them make no sense at all. Sometimes, you have a great story line in a movie, and then out of nowhere, some half nude girl come up on the screen and dances away. Sometimes it’s pretty relevant in the movie, sometimes it isn’t! Songs like Chikni Chameli, Sheila Ki Jawaani, Halkat Jawaani, Second Hand Jawaani, Munni Badnaam Hui, Baby Doll, Jalebi Baai, Fevicol Se, Bubbly Badmaash Hai, etc. which were known better than their respective movies itself, not only made a huge impact on the people today, but have scarred their audience with more ridiculous patriarchy.
These Item Numbers in some of the famous movies as we know it have made more hits than the budget of the movie itself. But, with such ridiculous and dirty names given to songs today, what is the film industry trying to show really? What is the need for half nude women to randomly tease their body and dance on some horrific song whose lyrics make absolutely no sense at all? I know, I know, people like watching it & so the Film makers want an item number in their movie but what if we turn the tables here and focus on how men would carry this off? If you want half nude women with a perfect body, then we want shirtless men with six abs. But if you’re wondering, why men and item numbers suddenly, then think about how casual you feel when a half nude woman dances on your TV screens but you still like objectifying that women and thinking that she is looking for you to have sex with her? I mean, really, I pity your thinking! If she really wants to have sex, she will ask a man out! She is a film star and you ain’t that lucky to have her even around you! Anyways, coming to the men, there are very few men dancing on item numbers as far as I remember. No, not dancing with half nude woman, but just the man being the centre of attention in some of the most stupid item songs ever made. So, if men were to dance on Item numbers, they better have a good body and physique, and they better be shirtless. In several item numbers, women have worn all sorts of clothes from bikinis to leather pants, but what about the men, they wear the same bottoms almost every time. Well, even when they’re dancing with their lady! So, it’s time for the men to show some skin, and entertain the ladies in the audience. Imagine, Shahid Kapoor, shirtless, dancing on Chikni Chameli or ‘Munna’ Badnaam Hua? They might make it but will people like it? Ahh…I doubt! What do you say? And will women start objectifying women after that? I don’t think so! You would rarely find a man’s picture because all you’ll ever see is a list of half nude women from various movies. The larger question is, ‘Is this what the Indian Cinema is all about, today?’ Isn’t there one movie which doesn’t contain an ‘Item Number’? And everywhere you see, half nude women, not just in movies, but also in advertisements. Ridiculous isn’t it? Haven’t you noticed, when a guy acts like a girl or pretends to be one, it’s usually funny or taken in by the audience as a mere joke, but when a woman tries to act like a man or pretends to be one, she’s yelled at for not ‘behaving like a girl’.
So, I don’t know when this mentality will change, but I hope if it does. If it does change, I think hot shirtless men must replace women in every aspect of media like ads, movies, songs, etc. That’s one way I think would help towards changing the mentality of objectifying women.
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About the Author: This article is contributed by Sonia David, our Intern. Sonia is a funky and sweet girl who is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Communicative English from Jyoti Nivas College, Autonomous in Bangalore. She loves writing, sketching and reading. She believes that women deserve much more and together, women can turn the world right side up!
