Item numbers in Bollywood

[Paramvir Singh]

MehBooba Mehbooba from Sholay is the first that I can remember, though Helen has had many more such 'cabaret' numbers in our Industry, long before the term 'Item Number' (which I think is so.. so pedestrian) was invented. Lets add all such numbers, old and new...

I believe RD Burman himself sang it. Dara will know. He's the biggest RD Burman fan that I know.

[Paramvir Singh]

Bipasha basu in Beedi Pilayle, Omkara

[vikchav]

surely not the oldest but one of the earlier from PARASMANI (1963) by Babubhai Mistri...debut film of Laxmikant-Pyarelal who went on to become the trendsetters in item songs till late by composing songs like 'jhumma chumma' and 'choli ke peeche kya hai'...the song below features Helen so in that sense its a coming together of huge 'item song' talents or we can say giants of 'item song' for the first time...the cheesy lyrics and 'energetic' choreography adds up immensely to the whole experience...enjoy!

[admin]

Helen does a number in a pink raincoat while Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri look on , in Anamika, 1973. Film also stars AK Hangal, Asrani etc.

Director : Raghunath Jalanai
Writers: Shashi Bhushan, Madan Joshi
Cinematography: Munir Khan
Editing: Babu Lavande
Gurudutt Shirali
Music by RD Burman

[admin]

Helen dances inside a glass bottle. Bollywood surrealism or magic realism (this is bollywood). Sachchai, 1969.

[admin]

Dharmendra and Helen. I dont know which movie. But the dance has soooo much energy!

[admin]

coming back to modern times, this one from Munna Bhai MBBS. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, Cinematography by Vinod Pradhan.

[vikchav]

@ admin...ur bitten by the item song bug

[admin]

"bhai, commercial picture mein masala to paije"

[Paramvir Singh]

Raja Bana Mera Chaila
(Mehboob, Aruna Irani and Bindu)

[Saihmee Dara Singh]

I think let me try and throw some light on ITEM NUMBERS in Indian cinema...actually if we begin with the study of item songs the term item ideally refers to atom as in ATOM in atom bomb actually a acronym termed by many for a sexy lady in those times(Sorry if any1 is offended)...e.g kya atom bomb hai boss.....

During the the course of time it got fossilised into item bomb a unreal version of atom bomb....and so our ITEM number was born and rules till date in promos trailors etc...only difference is, in those days only women performed item numbers ,nowadays men have also joined the bandwagon...

And i love songs or ITEM numbers whatever you call them,in our Indian cinema without which all of it
seems so dull...No matter how much people dislike songs in films , they will rule..and keep pulling in true cinegoers
LONG LIVE MUSIC....

[vikchav]

vaah dara vaah...dil khush kar diya…am so much enlightened by the knowledge of the historical evolution of the term ITEM NO...from ATOM to ITEM...bohot hi gyaanvardhak post tha ye...phir vahi baat yaad aa gai jo kabhi ek mashhoor nirdeshak ne apne sangeet ka gyaan rakhne wale dost se kahi thi..."aaj to dara ne aap ko bhi maat kar diya"...really...and ya i completely agree that our cinema will be incomplete without the topping of item songs...long live bambaiyaah picttture...long live atom (now item) number...AA JA AA JA DIL NICHODEN...

[Dollar Mondal]

Great Initiative..Thank you..
Why Black and white item no.s are missing?

I feel we can also consider:
A] Awaara 1951: Ek do Teen aaja mausam hain rangeen
[Bar (?) song, Cukoo’s dance]

Cukoo had introduced a 13-year-old Helen into films as a chorus dancer in the films like Shabistan and Awaara(1951). She also helped actor Pran get a break in Ziddi. Cukoo and Helen most notably appeared in song and dance sequences together like in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi.

Cukoo died in 1981. Little to no information is publicly known about her personal life, not even her real name, birth date, or exactly how and when she died. [Courtesy: IMDB]

B] A song sequence in “Night Club” [1958] Can’t remember the song..and if it’s Helen ..
But I suggest to watch this bollywood Film-noir. Watch Kamini Kaushal in this film; dressed like a Greta Garbo or Betty Davis..with a cap on her head and a burning cig ,,under a light-post..Ohh!!!
Stunning!!!

[Paramvir Singh]

(thanks for the names, Dollar, here goes)
Nigahon Ka Ishara from Night Club, 1953(?)

Ashok Kumar with some Actress I cant recognize.



Kahan Phir Hum, Kahan Phir Tum, again from Night Club

[Paramvir Singh]

HELLO HELLO - Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati



SONG: HELLO HELLO DIL MEIN HAIN JO BAATEN
MUSIC:KALYANJI ANANDJI
LYRICS:RAJENDAR KRISHAN
SINGER: ASHA BHOSLE
MOVIE: EK SHRIMAN EK SHRIMATI


Helen was born on October 21, 1939 in Burma to an Anglo-Indian father and Burmese mother. The family migrated to Mumbai, but her mother's salary as a nurse wasn't enough, and Helen had to quit her schooling to support the family. Helen had a brother Roger and sister Jennifer. A family friend, an actress known as Cukoo, helped her find jobs as a chorus dancer in the films Shabistan and Awaara (1951). Helen was soon working regularly, and was featured as a solo dancer in films like Alif Laila (1952) and Hoor-e-Arab (1953).


In 1958, she had her first major hit with her performance in the song "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" in Shakti Samanta's hit film, Howrah Bridge. She was in great demand after this, performing as a cabaret dancer and vamp in film after film. She was known as the Cabaret Queen. She was never a great success in the few films in which she played the heroine or when she played dramatic roles such as the rape victim in Shakti Samanta's Pagla Kahin Ka (1970), but vamp roles and "item numbers" kept her busy through the 1960s. Her luck took a turn for the worse in the 1970s. Younger actresses were taking the vamp roles. Also, changing rules for Bollywood heroines made it possible for sexy young things in go-go boots to do the cabaret numbers and play the heroine. Helen fell into financial difficulties.

In 1973, "Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls" was released. A 30-minute documentary film from Merchant Ivory films, the idea for the documentary came from Anthony Korner, an associate of Merchant Ivory's in the period, and now the publisher of Art Forum. It was directed and narrated by him, but the scenario was devised by Ivory. The subject of the film, which cost a modest $17,000 to make, is the most popular dancer in Bombay musical films -- and which presented Helen to the west as the undisputed star of Bollywood film, including her famous typewriter dance scene from "Bombay Talkie" the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film.

Writer Salim Khan came to her rescue. He helped her get good roles in some of the movies he was co-scripting with Javed Akhtar: Imaam Dharam, Don, Dostana, and the all-time hit Sholay. This led to a demanding role in Mahesh Bhatt's film Lahu Ke Do Rang (1979), for which she won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Soon afterwards, she married Salim Khan, as his second wife. The arrangement was said to have been tense at first, but Salim's children by his first wife (including current Bollywood actors Salman, Arbaaz, and Sohail Khan) are now said to be on good terms with their stepmother.

Helen and Salim Khan have an adopted daughter named Arpita.

Helen's brother Roger passed away in the 80's and her sister Jennifer is settled in New Delhi and is married to an Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force.

Helen retired from the screen for a number of years, but made a few "guest star" appearances in 1999 and 2000. In Mohabbatein, she plays the prim and proper head of a girls' school, who is pulled out onto a dance floor and surprises everyone with her lively dancing. She also made a special appearance as Salman Khan's mother in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam