Bollywood. Something everyone is familiar with. Whether it’s because of  their dhin-chak outfits or uplifting songs, Bollywood is the Hindi language film industry that has taken over the hearts of most of the population in India and across the world. Why? What is it about Bollywood that seems to be so intriguing to such a large audience? Bollywood music videos play a key role in this industry’s success. 

Bollywood is known to always have musical numbers in their movies even if they don’t help move the plot on or have any significance whatsoever. These videos mostly tend to have a woman who is portrayed as weak, powerless and useless unless with a man. The song usually starts with a female who has no interest in a male but by the end of the song the female is convinced otherwise by the man using lewd dance moves and lyrics. Or, the woman is viewed as an object that can be used to the man’s infinite pleasure. These songs are referred to as ‘item songs’. 

Even with the name, ‘item songs’ deeply degrade women and portray them as pieces of flesh rather than beings with their own emotions and choices. In the music videos the men are frequently shirtless while the women are made to wear absurd outfits that hardly cover up their bodies. In the song, ‘Fevicol Se’ Kareena Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actress, is sung to be ‘Tandoori Chicken’ that is supposed to be ‘swallowed with alcohol’. In this shallow and demeaning video, Kareena Kapoor is seen moving her hips in all directions possible and is obviously coveted by the men around her who are whistling and staring at her with lust. This is supposed to be appealing and used to lure a larger male audience to Bollywood, especially society’s lowest common denominator. The movie industry, much like the media industry, is dominated by men. Many movies are made by men, for men. Because men are the ones who make the movies, they tend to portray women in the way they believe other men will be attracted to watching their films. Thus women are dehumanised as they are reduced to tools of seduction and enticement.

Bollywood uses the shallowness of society to their advantage. In the same video, Salman Khan makes an entrance fully clothed, unlike the women, and immediately begins drinking and objectifying Kareena Kapoor. He is seen pushing her around and treating her as if she is obviously inferior. The movements he shows are all assertive symbolise his power and strength. The women however are given movements restricted to chest pumps and moving their hips from side to side and their facial expressions tend to be only that of winking and lip biting.

During the course of most of these item numbers, the people are shown to be changing their clothes at several intervals.The men are seen wearing clothes that bring out their upper physique, like their muscles and toned bodies and usually are fully dressed. The women, however, are almost always seen to be wearing clothes that cover only less than half of their bodies. The dance also seems to emphasise on their ‘flawless’ skin, legs, hands and stomachs. The actress is always shown to be slim and skinny, without even a single flaw. This puts a lot of pressure on girls to change the way they look and how they should behave and be treated in society. 

Another reason as to why this music video is only used to earn money and a bigger audience is that it is, as mentioned before, completely unrelated and unhelpful to the plot. The star of this song, Kareena Kapoor, is not even the female lead in this movie. Also, even though Salman Khan is shown to have a love interest in the movie, in this music video he is clearly shown to be fantasizing over Kareena.This insinuates the idea that it is acceptable for men to fantasize about women other than the one they claim to be in love with. When young men and women watch these films, these ideas become subconsciously ingrained in their minds. Repetition creates truth – men tend to dehumanise women and objectify them, while women often become servile in their demeanor.

Watching these dances influences young minds to do the same. These Bollywood songs provide an unrealistic and misleading idea for love and women. In reality, it is unlikely that any woman would feel comfortable being put in that situation. It is also very disturbing that even though there is a huge problem with rape in India, Bollywood still shows the women enjoying the toxic atmosphere they are put in during the music videos. 

In my opinion while item numbers certainly put Bollywood way below the bar, the newer movies seem to have less or no item numbers in them. As society progresses, Bollywood is also slowly progressing. Item numbers seemed to be why a movie got famous but now, with younger actors like Ayushman Khurana and Rajkumar Rao and their solid storyline backed movies, show us that romance is not the only thing that people look for in a movie and item numbers seem to be of lesser and lesser importance. Also, we cannot let item numbers blind us from the mesmerising dances by Shiamak Davar and Terence Lewis, two famous Bollywood choreographers who have occasionally used dance to convey important messages within the story. 

To conclude, society as a whole must move in a direction that doesn’t allow women to be in degrading and demeaning situations for the sole reason of earning money. Bollywood is beginning to have movies with less or no item songs and they should continue down that path. Since the youth is so easily influenced these days it is the film industry’s duty to ensure that they keep their environment respectful and do not put false ideas into their viewers’ heads.