After all the Munnis, Sheilas and Jalebis, it seems the boys too have been bitten by the item bug. If Aamir Khan is doing an Elvis Presley for the recently released Delhi Belly, Ranbir Kapoor’s Tain tain phish for Chillar Party is climbing the chartbuster list. Shah Rukh Khan too did a dance number in Always Kabhi Kabhi whereas Salman has forever been doing item songs. Is it time for item boys to rock Bollywood?
It seems item girls are going to have a tough time vying for eyeballs, feels HR executive James S. and says they have been popular because so far the industry thought that it’s only men in the audience who are vocal about how they would want to see women. “With the kind of society now, women are not far. Even they like eye candies and their share of fun. When John slipped into yellow trunks, he left women gasping for more. Now the industry has realised that they can target women as individual audience and not the one who would come with men to catch movies. So yes item boys are here to stay,” he shares.
“It’s too early to say if item boys have glorious days ahead, but they are definitely welcome. After a slew of similar sounding item songs, item boys have brought freshness with them. Change is always good, more so when it comes in the form of Ranbir,” chuckles Vani Trivedi, a freelance writer.
Akshat Chopra, a content writer, believes that be it SRK, Aamir, Salman or Ranbir, the success of a male item number depends on the way it is shot and choreographed. He further adds, “It also depends on the fact if it is in sync with the theme of the movie. If the song is catchy and the star has really funky dance steps, the item will surely hit the chord with the audience. So it can be an item girl or a boy.”
Whereas Saurabh Kumar Jha, a public relations officer, says that item boys can never pull the kind of crowd that item girls can. “The idea of item boys is still in a nascent stage. It is more of a publicity stunt to get established stars in movies that have newcomers. However, it’s the item girls that have turned out to be major crowd pullers for movies amongst all types of target audiences.”