Malaika has become the ultimate Item Girl Making a Bollywood movie is a fairly streamlined exercise, or at least it appears to be. The formula of a staple love story fractured by possible societal hurdles that eventually gets resolved after a handful of songs

and a massive fight is a well-trodden path in the ‘if it ain\'t broke, don\'t fix it\' mould.
And although the format might have undergone a few makeovers here and there, with filmmakers venturing into unromantic territory every now and again to critical acclaim and the sweet ‘ping!\' of the box office cash registers, what remains consistent are the song-and-dance routines. To wit, every B-town character is a musical genius and no matter what the situation - death, marriage, romance, break-up or patch-up - there\'s a song that perfectly sums it all up. And while the basics remain untouched, it\'s the revival of the seductive Item Girls, who sway seductively to titillating chartbusters, that\'s keeping the money rolling in.
And dare we say it, but Bollywood is no longer about the Shah Rukh Khans and the Salman Khans, but rather the tantalising twirls and twists that the Sheilas and the Munnis are bringing to the big screen. And despite having little, or more often, no narrative connection to the plot, the Item Girls are fast becoming an integral part of Bollywood pop culture.

The trend had gone off the boil after Hindi cinema underwent a makeover, almost putting the Item Girls out of business. But it was Abhinav Kashyap\'s Dabangg and Farah Khan\'s Tees Maar Khan that put them firmly back in the spotlight - and although Katrina Kaif\'s sensuous Sheila doesn\'t technically fit the Item Girl label, her role in Tees Maar Khan left wide-eyed critics placing her moves alongside those of Malaika Arora-Khan\'s sexy Munni.
\"We hadn\'t heard too many popular item numbers in 2010, that\'s why when Munni Badnaam Hui came out, people lapped it up,\" claims Farah Khan, the woman behind both the tracks. \"Then Sheila Ki Jawani followed and there were even talks of how the lives of women named Sheila had changed after the song!\"
Now, everyone\'s hooked, hawking out their shakin\' skills in exchange for the instant fame a hit song can bring.
And it\'s the Item trio of Mallika Sherawat, Deepika Padukone and Yana Gupta who are fast making headlines, meaning that Munni and Sheila might have to make way for the hot new girls on the B-Town block.
While Mallika, touted as the most expensive Item Girl, worked her magic as Rasiya in Thank You and Deepika set the screen ablaze in Dum Maaro Dum, it has been the return of item staple Yana Gupta as Laila in Chalo Dilli that\'s really got the industry buzzing.

Now and again...
Pretty soon, we\'ll be spoilt for choice, as, entranced by the idea of introducing wilder and wilder item numbers, and by extension Item Girls, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has revealed, \"I\'m going to have an item number picturised on Jacqueline Fernandes in Murder 2. It\'ll make men gasp and women faint!\"

Gasp and faint, eh? Can\'t wait!
While similar dance scenes were all the rage back in the \'60s and \'70s, it was the movie baddies who got to show off their high-kicks and shimmies when it came to the big number. And it was in the \'90s that these obscure dancing queens returned after Malaika pumped it up with Shah Rukh Khan atop a moving train in Dil Se. The craze, however, simmered in the following years, with an item number making an odd appearance every now and then.

Market buzz

The garish, provocative dances are undoubtedly an acquired taste, and despite their saucy reputation, item numbers are a big money-spinner, and one that\'s found a new niche among an audio-visual-stimulated audience and filmmakers alike, with Karan Johar eager to stress how \"good music\" packaged cleverly can increase a movie\'s commercial viability no end.
What\'s more, the item numbers double as prominent promotion tools, with trade analysts claiming that in the long run the actors might be cut out of the trailers altogether to free up more screen space for the girls.
\"If Sheila Ki Jawani had not done well, Tees Maar Khan wouldn\'t have got the initial opening figures it did,\" reckons analyst Amod Mehra. And it\'s a claim backed up by DJ Suketu, who reveals, \"I\'ve played Sheila Ki... 15 times in a matter of three-odd hours,\" thanks to repeated requests from fan.
A strange concept in the international movie market the Item Girls may be, but it\'s a trend that\'s got Bollywood booming. And after the buzz the Sheilas and the Munnis have created, it\'s now over to the Shalus and Lailas to bring forth the item numbers 2.0.

The trend

Although the origin of this peculiar term is obscure, some movie experts claim it\'s a symbol of desire, with \"item\" in Mumbai slang referring to a sexy woman.
And what was initially the fallback for starlets or out-of-work actresses, has now found celebrity champions, with the A-list wanting in on the trend.
Sonali Bendre was at the top of her game when she performed for Mani Ratnam\'s Bombay, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan hit a double-whammy of sorts after her seductive moves in Kajara Re in Bunty Aur Bubbly not only won her plenty of admirers, but also a handsome husband in the shape of B-Wood royalty Abhishek Bachchan.
And now, Malaika and Yana are two of a new generation of stars who are happier dancing in the spotlight for their pay cheques, rather than taking on a small supporting role instead.

e+ picks our top 5 item numbers

    Munni Badnam Huii (Dabangg) - Malaika Arora-Khan
    Sheila Ki Jawani (Tees Maar Khan) -  Katrina Kaif
    Humma Humma (Bombay) - Sonali Bendre
    Kajra Re (Bunty Aur Babli) - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
    Mayya Mayya (Guru) - Mallika Sherawat

From : Gulf News