Item number

Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora in Kaal.

A Bollywood song number designed for only one thing: Fan Service. The song in question traditionally had an "Item Girl" whose only role is to do a dance for either the hero or the villain, but usually did not involve them beyond ogling the girl in question; nowadays the trend is to get the Item Girl to do an elaborate (often very sexually charged) performance along a main male character to the tune of the catchiest song in the soundtrack. Usually, the song itself may or may not have anything to do with the plot, and its lyrics are usually either sexually charged or full of double entendres. A very common variation on this would be the heroine to do the Item Number, depending on a few factors: She is either a skilled dancer, a new actress in her first movie, the studio could not afford the Item Girl they wanted, or the movie's promotion is centered around the song in question.

While the term itself was coined around the 1990's, the tradition of a fanservicey musical number has been present in Hindi cinema since at least the 1930's, usually in the form of a vamp character or the villain's girlfriend doing some provocative dance, or "tribal-style" dance numbers in the middle of romance montages. Indian producers began to add item numbers with more frequency in the 1990s after the success of film Khalnayak was discovered to be because people wanted to see Madhuri Dixit's song "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" again and again.

Since the early 2000's, there has been an increase on numbers having an "Item Boy" instead, usually starring the hero to remark his attractiveness, or an established actor doing an special appearance. Abhishek Bachchan was a pioneer of this trend, but it was perfected by Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan.

Arabic film (or rather Egyptian film, but frankly they're all but synonymous) does much the same thing with a belly dance.

Examples of Item number include:

• Malaika Arora is one of the most famous Item Girls in Bollywood, to the point she has claimed that she doesn't need to do actual acting roles because she is paid well enough by just dancing to a song. Among her most famous numbers:
  • Her debut number "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (on top of a moving train!) , in 1998's Dil Se.
  • "Munni Badnam Hui Darling Tere Liye" from Dabangg (2010). This one lampshades itself (and, in a way, kind of deconstructs itself, too.)
  • Above pictured, the opening credits of Kaal.
  • "Anarkali Disco Chali" from Housefull 2.
• Aishwarya Rai in Kajra Re in Bunty Aur Babli, alongside her then-future father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan and her then-future husband Abhishek Bachchan.
• Deliberately invoked (among with a lampshading of its fanservice nature) in Om Shanti Om, when Shah Rukh Khan's character believes the film he is working in is too dull and claims that such an scene must be added to reflect the mindset of his absurdly crippled character. Cue "Dard-e Disco", an Item Number with him as the main Item, alternately shirtless or in dripping clothing.
  • In the same movie, the number "Dewaangi Dewaangi" is considered another Item Number, albeit the kind of fanservice of that song is based in Celebrity Cameos and references to every invited star's most famous dance number.
• "Nimbooda Nimbooda" in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam featuring Aishwarya Rai. It's a song about lemons, though to be fair, the lemons are being used as a metaphor for the challenges that make life and relationships interesting.
• "Dola Re Dola" in the 2002's version of Devdas, whose only reason to be is "we have superstars Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai in the same movie, let's put them together for a little dance even as they don't interact in literally no other scene".
• While a fine actress by herself, Madhuri Dixit owns a lot of her fame to the Item numbers she has appeared during her career:
  • Ek Do Teen from the 1988 film Tezaab, which was added to the film as an afterthought and made Dixit a star overnight. The song was so iconic it received a remake for the film Baaghi 2, this time featuring Jacqueline Fernandez, with everybody involved saying that it was an homage to the original.
  • The controversial (because of its title) song "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" in Khalnayak, is considered the Trope Codifier of the modern Item Number. That song title translates as "What's behind the blouse?"... although the answer is far less perverted than one would expect.
  • "Chane Ke Khet Mein" in Anjaam. If you were to just look at the lyrics, it's a song about a rape, but it's being presented as a positive experience, something to sing a happy song about...at a wedding! (It could be read as being about a "rape fantasy" scenario or simply consensual rough sex, but still...)
  • "Mera Piya Ghar Aaya" from Yaraana. (The above mentioned "Munni Badnam" number pays homage to the dance number aspect in Dabanng)
  • The titular song of Aaja Natchle, which was her return film after a 5-year sabbatical and more or less proved that she still has it going.
  • Ghagra from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, which also featured Ranbir Kapoor.
• "Dupatte Ka Pallu" in Tarkieb.
• Lajja featured two item numbers. The first one is "Aa Hi Jaiye" with Urmila Matondkar. The second one is "Badi Mushkil" with Madhuri Dixit.
• Mehbooba featuring Mallika Sherawat, from 2007's Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, became famous as it was claimed that Sherawat charged 15 millions of rupees just for that number, making her the most expensive Item Girl at the time.
• Sheila Ki Jawani, from Tees Maar Khan (2010) featuring Katrina Kaif, is considered the only brilliant part of an otherwise mediocre film. It had somehow of a Fandom Rivalry with the above mentioned "Munni Baadnam", to which it was constantly compared, and its fame inspired a segment in the anthology film Bombay Talkies.
• All the closing credits in the Dhoom films are Item numbers, usually starred by the villains and/or their love interests, set to a remix of the franchise leitmotif.
  • The original Dhoom has "Dhoom Dhoom", featuring film star Esha Deol within the film and Thai singer Tata Young in the credits version.
  • Dhoom 2 has "Dhoom Again", the song that runs both the opening and closing credits, featuring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. Rai also stars in the actual item number of the film, "Crazy Kiya Re".
  • Dhoom 3 has "Dhoom Machale Dhoom", and Kamli, both featuring Katrina Kaif.
• Dostana's intro, "Shut Up and Bounce" only serves to show up the very gorgeous Shilpa Shetty walks around Miami's beaches in clothes defying the Theiss Titillation Theory, and somewhat show up the personalities of the characters interpreted by John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan (their personalities: "Abs, abs, abs" and "Metrosexual girl magnet in colorful pastel shirts" respectively)
• Former porn star Sunny Leone gained some legitimacy in Bollywood by becoming an Item Girl, earning great popularity with her breakout number "Baby Doll", the best thing of the otherwise mediocre film Ragini MMS 2.
• "Mehbooba Mehbooba" from Sholay, featuring then popular actress and dancer Helen.
• "Dilbar" from the film Satyameva Jayate, featuring Nora Fatehi, is as 2020 one of the most viewed songs from T-Series Youtube Channel; if you add the views that the various videos versions has received (including an Arabic version featuring the same dancer), the song has collected nearly a billion views.