This started the process of film companies spending serious money on the production of that one song because selling the rights to TV channels represented around 50 percent of their profits. There were some movies which would have been a big flop, but the item song saved the film which of course gave these female performers some power. These actresses could become an instant success, so the item song was seen as a gateway to popularity. “Because it wasn’t seen as acceptable in Indian society for the heroine to dance or be presented in such a provocative way in a public space,” she says. They were never the heroine of the film, but rather the ‘vamp’ who could be seen drinking, smoking and being openly sexual in ways the heroine couldn’t. She found that the traditional item song, from as far back as the 1950s, used to be performed by actresses who were often newcomers rather than established performers. In other words, If you removed the song, the film would still make sense. She examined the characters played by female performers, focusing on the type of dance that is not related to the narrative but is more of an erotic display of women – just there for entertainment purposes. The role has changed over time, says Kooshna whose research covers films from 1988 to 2015. The ‘item dance’, one of the main musical numbers of the film usually performed by a female dancer, has become increasingly important for a film’s success. Dr. Kooshna Gupta, Faculty of Arts, examined how the dance item in these movies became big business. The position of female performers in Bollywood films’ big dance numbers is the focus of new research at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.īollywood is a multi-million-dollar industry with huge cultural influence and popularity worldwide.
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