VoteUpIndia » girl http://voteupindia.com Top News of India... Sat, 19 May 2012 05:37:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Endosulfan victim dies, clinic ransacked http://voteupindia.com/endosulfan-victim-dies-clinic-ransacked-endosulfan/ http://voteupindia.com/endosulfan-victim-dies-clinic-ransacked-endosulfan/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 23:50:14 +0000 prashant agarwal http://voteupindia.com/?p=9684

KASARGOD: Protesters ransacked the private clinic of a doctor at the General Hospital here on Thursday and staged a sitin before the hospital gate following the death of a three-year-old girl, listed as an endosulfan victim.

The Health Department later suspended Dr Narayana Naik from service on the basis of a probe report sent by Dr Jose D’ Cruze, District Medical Officer. The girl, Prajitha, who suffered from epilepsy was brought to the General Hospital for treatment on Wednesday evening by her mother Jayanthi.

The girl, daughter of Sasidharan, was brought to the hospital as she developed fever and drooled. Jayanthi was told at the hospital that child specialist was on leave and the hospital authorities refused to admit her though her mother showed the ‘snehaswanthanam card’ issued to endosulfan patients.

The hospital authorities directed her to go to the clinic of Dr Narayana Naik, child specialist. Jayanthi, a native of Nattakkallu in Mulleria and was a stranger to the area was stranded at the hospital waiting for help.

An autorickshaw driver took her to the clinic of Dr Narayana Naik, who examined the child. Since Jayanthi had no money with her the autorickshaw driver paid the doctor’s fee of Rs 100. Jayanthi said though she showed the outpatient card, the doctor demanded `100 as his fee. Prajitha was brought back to the General Hospital and was admitted there. The victim’s parents said though the doctor had told them that he would come back to the hospital later, he did not turn up. The girl was finally shifted to a private hospital in the town around 9 pm where doctors pronounced her condition to be serious and she died on Thursday morning.

The DYFI men took out a march to the hospital and tried to stage a sitin before the office of the hospital superintendent. However, the police prevented them from entering the hospital premises. The DYFI men then staged a sitin before the hospital gate.

The activists of Youth League, Youth Congress and Solidarity also took out marches to the hospital and staged a dharna. A group of DYFI men stoned the clinic of Dr Narayana Naik and his wife Dr Jyothi in Pulikkunnu around 11 am. Meanwhile, the body of Prajitha was sent to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital for autopsy as demanded by the relatives of the victim.
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This post was submitted by prashant agarwal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/endosulfan-victim-dies-clinic-ransacked-endosulfan/feed/ 0 Siruthai – Movie Review http://voteupindia.com/siruthai-movie-review/ http://voteupindia.com/siruthai-movie-review/#comments Sat, 15 Jan 2011 09:05:53 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=9177
It seems Karthi is following his brother Surya’s footsteps when it comes to choosing the scripts and working hard on the characters. The actor, who has given four superhit movies till date, is back with Siruthai and has paired with Tamanna Bhatia again. The audience has huge expectations on this movie. Now, let us see whether the movie has met the expectations or not.

Story:

Rocket Raja (Karthi) and Pattu Poochi (Santhanam) are small time thieves, who cheat and steal valuables from every given opportunity. They do anything and everything to make quick bucks. Once, they attend a wedding ceremony to rob but Rocket Raja, who saw Shwetha (Tamanna) at the function, falls in love immediately. As expected, after a series of incidents, they start seeing each other. However, the situation turns serious when a little girl (baby Rakshana) claims that he is her father. Raja tries to find out the truth and discovers that the girl is the daughter of an IPS officer Rathinavel Pandian (Karthi) and he gets killed in front of Raja during a fight against dons. What happens next should be seen on-screen.

Performance:

Karthi has given an excellent performance. His comedy and one-liners as Rocket Raja and his killer looks of a tough cop Rathinavle Pandian steals the hearts of the audience. He has done two contradicting characters with ease. Santhanam is at his usual best and tickles funny bones of the audience. Tamanna has given her best even though she has a limited role to play in the film. Music by Vidyasagar has become popular even before the release of the film. Cinematography by Velraj is good. Especially, the camera works in action scenes make a good watch. Director Siva should be credited for bringing out the best from his team.

Remarks:

You can watch the film with your family because of the entertaining elements. It has a perfect mix of romance, action, fun, comedy, glamour and sentiments. It is a perfect Pongal treat for Kollywood audience. Do not miss this movie!

Cast: Karthi, Tamanna Bhatia, Santhanam, baby Rakshana and others.
Director: Siva
Music: Vidyasagar
Cinematography: Velraj
Producer: K. E. Gnanavel Raja
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/siruthai-movie-review/feed/ 0 Review: Turning 30 is embarrassing http://voteupindia.com/review-turning-30-is-embarrassing/ http://voteupindia.com/review-turning-30-is-embarrassing/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:53:14 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=9102
I turned 30 last week, and clearly my life isn’t the kind debutant director Alankrita Srivastava would make a movie about.

I didn’t open a door to forty people screaming ‘surprise’ and laugh like they just told me a hilarious joke, I didn’t play Truth Or Dare where men confessed they’d been bad husbands but really loved their wives — to which buddies warmly exclaimed ‘Good one!,’ as if another invisible gag passed me by — and women came out of the closet, to cast a pall on all their so-called friends.

I didn’t lose an advertising job in an agency where creative heads bickered using David Ogilvy quotes, and I haven’t been through a broken engagement because of financial reasons. I doubt anybody has, really. And that’s not just because I’m a man.

Turning 30!!! is a collection of cliches running through a harebrained script, where Gul Panag is surrounded by an impressive coterie of non-actors, even as the director vainly, even gallantly, tries to push the envelope.

So kissing is casual and frequent, the girl spoons the boy instead of the other way around, lingerie is discussed with casual ease, a woman chooses to take an extramarital affair in her stride, and sex isn’t that big a deal. Kudos, lady.

What is painful, then, is not the straightforward attempt to connect to a certain audience that goes through the same things — a niche that would like its problems discussed and even mocked, all in the name of awareness — but the sheer, unfettered incompetence on display.

A film can’t be both empowering and embarrassing — and here the latter is painfully predominant. The problems the characters face might well be real; the film, however, is anything but.

The writing is stagey, the situations caricatured — a breakup instantly causes rain, there is constant red wine on tap to deal with sorrow, a disgruntled girl writes a novel in her spare time — and the acting mostly awful. Even the most pneumatic of leading ladies goes on about her inadequate bosom, simply because her character needs to suffer from every possible aging-woman platitude. Groan.

Panag manages to both cry and speak English convincingly — the latter decidedly a major task for most of her colleagues, especially everyone at her advertising agency — but all the characters fail to connect, engage or interest. Every one of them is based on a stereotypical one-line: an ‘artistic’ photographer-type, for example, earns hipster-cred exclusively through an eclectic range of scarves, and some mention of having gone to London. That’s all we need to know, really.

A laughable mess, this Turning 30!!!. Maybe if it wasn’t in English, it could perhaps have salvaged some credibility. Then again, the only thing it shows us is that Gul can curse a helluva lot better than Rani Mukerji did last week.
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/review-turning-30-is-embarrassing/feed/ 0 The perfect cover girl: Ash or Freida? http://voteupindia.com/the-perfect-cover-girl-ash-or-freida/ http://voteupindia.com/the-perfect-cover-girl-ash-or-freida/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:07:28 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=9024
Bollywood celebrity media wars seem to have gone international and viral.

Media all over the world reported that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had been replaced by Slumdog Millionaire actress Freida Pinto, as the face of cosmetics firm L’Oreal. Now, a company statement is circulating around, claiming it’s not true.

Both Aishwarya, 37, and Freida, 26, are ‘spokesmodels’ for L’Oreal Paris along with Sonam Kapoor, 25, and other international celebrities like Andie Macdowell, Beyonce Knowles, Claudia Schiffer, Jane Fonda, Doutzen Kroes, Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, Milla Jovovich, Linda Evangelista, Elizabeth Banks, Evangeline Lilly, Diane Kruger, Cheryl Cole, Rachel Weisz, Gerard Butler, Eric Cantona, etc.

L’Oreal Paris says that it has chosen spokesmodels that ‘inspire women and men the world over.’

L’Oreal Paris defines Ash as the ‘incarnation of Indian beauty’; talks about ‘Aishwarya’s intelligence, exotic beauty, and unmatched talent’; and adds that ‘Aishwarya Rai lends her smile to the Color Riche Star Secrets range of lipsticks and her immense green eyes to Color Appeal Star Secrets Trios eye shadows’.

It describes Freida Pinto as ‘most promising rising star’, ‘vivacious and precocious young girl’ and ‘India’s very own million dollar baby’.

Sonam Kapoor is the ‘fashionista of Bollywood’, ‘style icon’ and ‘known for her eclectic style’, according to L’Oreal Paris official website.

The media took the hint from L’Oreal’s ‘Happy New Year’ television commercial which starred Freida along with other international celebrities but not Ash, resulting in some claiming that the replacement was permanent and this marked an end to Aishwarya’s reign and her demise as India’s most successful international film star.

Now a statement from the firm is circulating in the media, which states ‘…Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continues to be our valued spokesperson, as she has since 2000… she remains an integral part of the L’Oreal Paris world wide Dream Team… She is one of the most iconic women of our times…’

Do you think Ash is still a stunning face to endorse L’Oreal products? Or do you prefer Freida’s fresh faced beauty?
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/the-perfect-cover-girl-ash-or-freida/feed/ 0 Meena gives birth to a baby girl http://voteupindia.com/meena-gives-birth-to-a-baby-girl/ http://voteupindia.com/meena-gives-birth-to-a-baby-girl/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:06:03 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8832
One time leading lady, Meena delivered a baby girl on New Year day (Jan 1, 2011) at a private hospital in Chennai.

Both the mother and daughter are doing well. Meena started her career as a child artist and then became a top heroine in Tamil and Telugu films.

Meena married a software engineer Vidyasagar in July 2009 in Tirupathi.

She is doing Tamil television serials and the occasional films. Her Thambikottai in which she has a very powerful role gets release for release soon.
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/meena-gives-birth-to-a-baby-girl/feed/ 0 Hot item girl Poonam Jhawar to play Nira Radia http://voteupindia.com/hot-item-girl-poonam-jhawar-to-play-nira-radia/ http://voteupindia.com/hot-item-girl-poonam-jhawar-to-play-nira-radia/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:26:54 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8441
The film is titled ‘2G Radia-tion’.
With the corporate world and even the media being stung by the Radiagate, it was only a matter of time before Bollywood came up with a film on the subject.

In the works is a film based on the corporate lobbyist Nira Radia who has hit headlines in the 2G telecom spectrum investigation. And guess who’s been roped in to play Radia? none other than the item girl Poonam Jhawar.

Poonam has mostly worked in music videos. She also has to her credit a blink-and-miss role in Akshay Kumar’s 1994 film Mohra. Apparently, when no big offers came her way, she produced her own film titled Aanch and played a leading role in it.

Having now bagged the second lead role of her career in ‘2G Radia-tion’, that too of a controversial figure like Radia, Poonam is ecstatic.

“The producers felt my overall personality matches with that of Nira Radia’s. It’s the role of a lifetime for me,” Poonam said at a press conference in Mumbai.

The buzz is that the film will be directed by Satchit Puranik and its cinematographer will be Hollywood’s Matthew R Blute. It will reportedly be produced by UK based Hiten Group.
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/hot-item-girl-poonam-jhawar-to-play-nira-radia/feed/ 0 Soha steps up the Bollywood ladder http://voteupindia.com/soha-steps-up-the-bollywood-ladder/ http://voteupindia.com/soha-steps-up-the-bollywood-ladder/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:46:30 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8390
Soha Ali Khan, who will be seen in Tera Kya Hoga Johny this week, has an interesting line up of films including Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children.

Are you happy that after a long wait Tera Kya Hoga Johny is finally releasing?
Yes, I am glad and really excited about the film. Thankfully, Tera Kya Hoga Johny still looks fresh and has a good buzz about it despite the delay. It is an interesting subject that talks about human weaknesses and how the path to success is not easy.

What are you playing in the film?
I play an aspiring model, who is trying to make it big in Mumbai. She is saddled with a boyfriend who is a cocaine addict, and how she copes with him and her dreams is an important aspect of the film.

How would you describe the film’s director, Sudhir Mishra?
Sudhir is an actor’s director who writes very strong, textured parts. The best part about Tera… was that it was shot in locations that Sudhir has discovered during his nightly jaunts. He has presented Mumbai as never before.

Which film are you presently shooting for?
I am in the midst of newcomer Neerav Ghosh’s Soundtrack and Sai Kabir’s Chemistry.

What kind of challenges did you face for Soundtrack, in which you play a deaf girl?
The film is the official remake of It’s All Gone Pete Tong, which is based on the true story of a popular Czech DJ Kristov Masalin. He became deaf due to excessive noise levels but I play a girl who is born deaf, yet is generally very upbeat about life. Portraying her was a challenge because I cannot perceive life without sound, and I talk non-stop, and here I had to play a deaf girl who talks through sign language.

What is Chemistry all about?
It’s an out-and-out comedy about the chemistry between a boy (Shreyas Talpade) who likes kulfis and a girl who is very ambitious. The film is my first attempt at comedy.

What’s happening to Accident, your film with Shiney Ahuja?
The film is another first for me, as I had never done anything in the horror genre. It should release sometime next year.

Are you excited about Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children?
I am very excited about the film and waiting to start shooting for it in February. But I am not allowed to speak about my part right now.

How would you describe this phase of your career?
I am content with what I have on my plate and don’t resent the fact that I am not part of hardcore mainstream cinema.

Will you be doing a film for your brother Saif Ali Khan’s home production?
Saif is presently busy with Agent Vinod. When he has a part for me in any of his productions, I am sure he will ask me.
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/soha-steps-up-the-bollywood-ladder/feed/ 0 Rambo’s come to town http://voteupindia.com/rambos-come-to-town/ http://voteupindia.com/rambos-come-to-town/#comments Sat, 18 Dec 2010 09:22:32 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8330
Film: Nayaka (Kannada)
Director: PC Sekar
Cast: Naveen, Ragini Dwivedi, Rajendran

A young couple in love are on a trip. The girl is kidnapped and the distraught boy goes in search of the girl into the forests…

Newbie Naveen gets a perfect launchpad in Nayaka. This tall muscle makes most of the actioner set inside the forest. His dialogue delivery drips with a first-timer’s earnestness, masking the accent. Not so with Nan Kadavul Rajendran, whose dialogue delivery is atrocious, bravado restricted to tearing his ganji off to show those fab-abs and who roars like a lion bitten by a swarm of ants, each time he is angry. Too much sincerity can be an overkill…

The dubbing artist for Ragini is a disaster, further reducing her character into a caricature – it is only during the climax that the leggy heroine’s eyes speak volumes. By then, precious minutes are wasted.

But Murali Krish’s camera keeps up the audience’s affair with Nature alive – there’s little to show man’s contrived understanding of principles of co-existence. The plot too is alright, except that the screenplay tries too hard to be simple. Full credit to the re-recording team; Arjun’s background score deserves all the applause.

A worthy effort from a fresh team that falls short of excellence, Nayaka nevertheless brings back memories of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo…

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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/rambos-come-to-town/feed/ 0 Akshay: Katrina has played an item girl like never before http://voteupindia.com/akshay-katrina-has-played-an-item-girl-like-never-before/ http://voteupindia.com/akshay-katrina-has-played-an-item-girl-like-never-before/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:24:05 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8172
The world is crooning ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ and resultantly, the team of TEES MAAR KHAN too isn’t allowing the steam to be let off. While the cast and director of the film are currently on an all India tour of the film and would soon be heading for the other parts of the world, there is an exponential rise in buzz and excitement that one can sense in the curiosity around the film which is tipped to take a huge opening at the box office.

Meanwhile, the film is also huge for Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif because as a couple, they return on the big screen more than two years after SINGH IS KINNG. Yes, they were seen together in DE DANA DAN and BLUE as well but there was hardly any screen time that they shared. This means that as a quintessential hero-heroine ‘jodi’, it is indeed a reunion of sorts for Akshay and Katrina here.

Smiles Akshay, “I am proud to say as a producer and co-star that this movie couldn’t have been complete without Katrina. She just grows with every opportunity that she is given. What is really amazing is the fact that she has played an ‘Item Girl’ like never before. She has always been great to share a screen with.”

Given the success record that the duo has shared, one can well believe Akshay here. After all films like WELCOME and NAMASTEY LONDON are a testimony to that. “Well she annoys the hell out of me but I wouldn’t want it any other way”, adds Akshay on a lighter note, “I always look forward to our yearly movie together.”

“I must tell everyone that Kat has hammed her way through this movie like a true Jag tap. Congratulations Kat, there is now nothing you can’t do now”, winks Akshay before signing off.

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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

]]> http://voteupindia.com/akshay-katrina-has-played-an-item-girl-like-never-before/feed/ 0 Yeh jawani hai deewani http://voteupindia.com/yeh-jawani-hai-deewani/ http://voteupindia.com/yeh-jawani-hai-deewani/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:15:18 +0000 Mudit Agrawal http://voteupindia.com/?p=8039
After the Munni madness comes Sheila Ki Jawani josh. Dissecting the item number concept that is setting movie screens on fire all across the country

You have to hand it to Katrina Kaif. She got rid of all her British contours and proved she’s a pucca desi girl in Sheila Ki Jawani.

The latkas-jhatkas amidst the pots and the matkas in the inspiring company of Akshay Kumar did not come easily to Katrina. She got herself a belly dancer to make her belly button acquire a life of its own.

She lost weight and she gained that glorious and gorgeous gait to make the men drool and women smirk in the darkness of the auditorium.

This, just months after Katrina’s would-have-been sister-in-law Malaika Arora sizzled on screen with Munni Badnaam Hui.

Sigh. Zara Hottie kay zara bach kay yeh hai Item-bomb meri jaan!

Sallu connection
Is it just a coincidence that the three most cherished ‘item’ song queens in recent times have some kind of connect with Salman Khan? There was Aishwarya Rai Bachchan jiving to Kajra Re in Bunty Aur Babli three years ago with her future husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan. Now there is Malaika’s Munni and Katrina’s Sheila act.

Kajra effect
No one expected Kajra re would be such a rage. It spawned a virtual explosion of item songs ranging from Mallika Sherawat’s clumsily performed Maiya Maiya in Guru to Malaika Arora’s raunchy but ravishing Honth Raseele Tere Honth Raseele in Welcome where Anil Kapoor pranced all around Malaika. There are item songs and there are I-thumka-songs. If you throw in a raunchy desi-folk beat into the item song like Shilpa Shetty’s Main Aayee Hoon UP Bihar Lootne in Shool, Aishwarya’s Kajra re and Malaika’s Munni, you have a sure`shout’ winner on your hands.

Item, huh?
This is where the battle between Munni and Sheila really hots up. Though Katrina dances like a dream in Sheila Ki Jawani most experts feel the song is too urbane, chic and slick to make an impact in the interiors of the country.

But Katrina has a peculiar protest against Sheila Ki Jawani being termed an item song. Says the sizzler, “How can Sheila be an item song? I play an item girl in Tees Maar Khan. But I am there throughout the film as the leading lady and I have a number of songs and dances. Isn’t an item song one appearance by an actor and actress, like Shah Rukh Khan’s opening-credits number in Karan Johar’s Kaal or Lara Dutta’s Aisa Jadoo Dala Re in Khakee?”

One ‘n’ gone
Katrina makes a valid point. How do we define the item song? It continues to be the domain of any top actress (and sometimes actor too) sweeping into sight for one song and then vanishing leaving a lingering impact. By this definition Madhubala’s immortal Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya in Mughal-e-Azam does not qualify as an item song. Hema Malini’s Mujra in Pradeep Sarkar’s Laga Chunri Mein Daag and Joothe Nain Bole in Gulzar’s Lekin are item songs because Hema came, danced and vanished from the plot.

Sequins, feathers
So, which is the first item song of Hindi commercial cinema? Long before Munni
Badnam Hui darling box office ke liye, there was Mumtaz in a 1970 potboiler called Humjoli. She performed the first item song by a leading lady in Bollywood. The film starred Jeetendra and Leena Chandavarkar. But there was a situation in the plot where Jeetendra needed to make his girl jealous by dancing with another girl, the hotter the better. The makers were thinking on the lines of the obvious. Helen, the ultimate item girl. But the ever-enterprising Jeetu had a brainwave.

Why not his pal Mumu? That’s how commercial Hindi cinema’s first title song; Tik Tiki Tiki Mera Dil Dole in Humjoli was born. The ever-bindaas Mumtaz got into the feathers, sequins and a body stocking that was meant for Helen. And boy, did she sizzle!

A rage
Today, the item song is just not the same. Is it a victim of overkill? Koena Mitra who has performed a couple of them seems to think so. Now in Los Angeles for the past few months, Koena says, “The item number is just not interesting any more. Any and every one is doing it. What’s the big deal? It has lost its exclusivity. I am done with item songs. Let the others do it.” Raveena Tandon performed an item song Shaher Ki Ladki way back in 1996 in the film Rakshak. It was a rage. Raveena says, “I had just gone through a period of personal stress and needed to get out of it. Suneil Shetty who was the hero of Rakshak recommended me for the song. I was like ¦ waaaat? But he convinced me. And I did Shaher Ki Ladki. My God! What a rage it was!”

Go on
To this day Raveena is referred to as the Shaher ki ladki . Raveena is not too pleased with today’s item songs. She says though that they are here to stay. “But I don’t think item songs will get outdated. Jab tak suraj chand rahega tab tak Basanti nachegi! Jokes apart, I think the sizzle will never go out of the item song. Look at Kareena in Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana (Don) or Katrina in Sheila Ki Jawani (Tees Maar Khan) ¦wow! Item girls will come item girls go, but the heroes will go on forever, ha ha.” Raveena says the item song will only get hotter by the Friday, “It will be a case of one-up-woman-ship. Every heroine will outdo the previous one in terms of oomph and jhatkas. It’s a music-driven industry. We cannot do away with item songs.”

No tension
Raj Kumar Santoshi who practically patented the item song by having piping-hot numbers in each of his films, Urmila Matondkar’s Chamma Chamma in China Gate and Aaaiye Aa Jaiye in Lajja, Lara Dutta’s Aisa Jadoo Dala Re in Khakee, says the item song has not lost its sheen due to overuse. Says Santoshi, “Look at Munni Badnaam. You can’t deny that song’s role Dabangg’s success. I’ll continue to put an item song whenever I need to break the tension in my drama.”

No questions
The ultimate item girl or the IT girl as she was known, was Helen whose cabaret numbers warmed up the box office potential of scores of films in the 1960s and 70s right until her drizzle of sizzle in Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana in 1978 in the film Don.
Helen once reminisced that she never thought of her numbers as item numbers. “I just did what I was asked to. I never questioned the choreographer. But I made sure I never crossed the line of decency.”

Zeroed in
All Helen’s cabaret numbers were performed under strict self-censorship codes. Every inch of unclothed skin was covered in body stocking. The dance movements never crossed the limits of decency. And pelvic thrusts which are almost mandatory to the average item song today, were a complete no-no for Helen.
Ironically Helen’s repertoire of cabaret dances were never given the status of dignity and grace in their heyday that they are given today.

While in the past, Helen’s dances were often accused of being off colour, today, they are looked on as the epitome of grace and decorum. Recently when Ekta Kapoor needed a new-age Helen for her 1970s retro-gangster film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai she auditioned dozens of wannabe Helens and finally zeroed in on Gauhar Khan who did scant justice to Monica, Oh my darling.

Toast them
Guess we need more power for the item girl to rise and shine to a place where Helen’s magic took those immortal cabaret numbers like Aa Jaan-e-Jaan (Inteqam), Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan) and Mehbooba oh Mehbooba (Sholay).

It is plain to see that love them or hate them; most
filmmakers can’t do without them.
Yeh jaam item numbers ke naam.

In Pakistan, Munni is political tool

Munni Badnam Hui has found a place in the political circles of Pakistan with politicians from leading parties using the hit Bollywood item song to take a swipe at one another.

Speaking at a party function, ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said, “We are being blamed for the wrong doings of others.”

In an obvious dig at the opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), he said, “Our situation is such that we can only say, ‘Munni badnam hui darling tere liye’.”

Punjab Law Minister and PML-N stalwart Rana Sanaullah was quick to latch on to the opportunity.

“What a pity that the PPP leader has termed the entire party as Munni,” he said, adding that, “this Munni is not getting a bad name because of darling but because of her own actions.”

Munni, a mother of two, has been unable to open her little shop in Lahore since the song.

First it was the boys in the neighbourhood, and then the men got wind of the popular song from Salman Khan’s film, and they would all come to Munni’s store and sing ” Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye” and embarrass her.

“Every now and then someone will come to my store and say ‘Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye’ in front of my customers.

First I didn’t pay much attention and tried to ignore it, but then it became a routine and I started to get irritated,” Munni, the store owner, is reported to have said.

“Even sober and reserved people have sung this song loudly while passing by my store. I have scolded many of them but they just laugh and run away.

Finally, I couldn’t take this behaviour anymore and closed my shop for several days.

It has been two months and either I don’t open my store or if I do open, then I don’t sit at the counter myself,” she said. Munni’s personal life too has been affected because of the song.

“Many times they (boys) play it (song) on tape to tease me. This song has really become a nightmare for me,” she said.

The story has been much the same for Shahida Munni, a school principal in Lahore.
Shahida is having a nightmarish time in school with students breaking into the Munni song after setting eyes on her.

“While walking in my neighbourhood, I am always scared that someone will start to sing the song. Most of the time my fears become reality as many boys either sing the song loudly or play it on the stereo,” she said.

“They do it for fun. I don’t understand how teasing someone can be fun for people. I am sick of this now and want this to come to an end,” Shahida said.

This isn’t the first time women have had to face problems because of the mention of their all too common names in a song.

Popular Punjabi singer Abrarul Haq was once directed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court to change the lyrics of his song because the name, “Parveen” embarrassed many women with the name.

Bollywood numbers with people’s names

But, Pappu can’t dance saala (several anguished real life Pappus protested that they could dance).

Monica O My Darling (the song became very popular at the height of revelations about Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky).

Urvashi, Take it Easy Policy (Several Urvashi’s across the country were exasperated when the song was belted out at times when they were irked about something).
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This post was submitted by Mudit Agrawal.

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