This is an Item Dance Montage and an appreciation post for parents. I'm not kidding.
Content Warning: If you are not a fan of item numbers, this post is not for you and it maybe triggering. You have been warned.
I like modern item numbers, where the lead actress herself is doing the dancing. Please also note, as the audiences have matured into the new millennium, most item dances these days have become less about vulgarity and more about sexy and titillating. And, I also understand, that what is not vulgar for me could absolutely be vulgar for the next person. I also understand that item dancing is all about pandering to the male gaze, and while I, once upon a time was up in arms about items numbers exploiting young women for the male-gaze, am not so anymore, because the market provides enough to pander to the female-gaze as well these days. So, it's not about equality anymore. And I began appreciating the quintessential item number's visualisation and not just the catchy music score.
The point of this post is the Rasha Thadani - Raveena Tandon duo. I heard 'Uyi Amma' on the F.M radio while on a drive and kept humming it for a while. I have always loved Amit Trivedi's songs. I like a song I hear and look it up, its ends up that Amit Trivedi has done the music. Shandhaar, Fitoor, Queen, Udta Punjab, Dear Zindagi, Aisha, all of them I heard a song, liked it, check it, and who's done it? Amit Trivedi.
The curiosity of how the song looked like made me look up 'Uyi Amma' on youtube. And I was completely taken aback - this was a professional item number! Picture perfect. Not an expression out of place. And this child was new. I hadn't seen her before anywhere. It was her very first movie! Something was not adding up. Then I googled her and it clicked.
Did anyone know how long it took Kareena, Deepika, Katrina to do an ethnic item number in their careers? It took about 10 years for Kareena before Halkat Jawani and Fevicol Se from when she started acting. It took about 8 years for Katrina from debut to Chikni Chameli. And I doubt that Deepika has done an ethnic item song yet because all the songs in RamLeela have her dancing with the hero or romancing the hero and hence not typically 'item' songs.
But here is Rasha doing an ethnic item song in her debut, studying for board exams no less, while shooting the movie, and doing it so well that no one would guess she was a newbie. It just goes to show how growing up in the industry prepares you and specifically, how having a successful actress mother and a supportive producer father can groom the progeny- by parental design or by the child's sheer watching and learning.
Of course, this is just an item number appreciation post. Or a parental appreciation post if you will. Why should we only appreciate IIT parents getting their kids to crack the JEE?
