The debate on whether item numbers do serious damage is not a new one. Shabana Azmi opened the discussion again during a panel discussion at FICCI Frames.

Azmi declared, “I have strong views on item numbers because they are not part of the narrative, and they've been put in a film for the only purpose of titillation and nothing else.”She added, “When a girl or a leading lady says 'It's alright, I want to celebrate my sensuality', I have no problem with that. I think that's wonderful.” Then she slammed the damage that item numbers did, saying, “But under the pretence of 'celebrating your sensuality', what you are actually doing is surrendering to the male gaze and objectifying yourselves because the business of cinema is of images.”

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The senior actress maintained that it creates a problem when audiences are shown the “fragmented bits” of a woman’s body, “heaving bosom, swinging navel, shaking hip”. This robs her whole autonomy, she stated.

She went on to take the example of the item song from Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg 2, featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan. Bebo had famously shaken her booty to the infamous 'Fevicol Se…' in this film.

Shabana got specific, stating, “Please be informed, when you say 'Main tandoori murgi hu, gatka lo Mujhe alcohol kay saath' and a four-year-old girl is dancing on it, you are leading to the sexualisation of children and the parents who are enjoying it, people who are encouraging her are just as responsible.”

To make her point, she mentioned step-daughter Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, in which Katrina Kaif had been filmed tastefully in some scenes in a bikini.
“In the film, Katrina Kaif comes out of the water in a bikini, the camera doesn't go close to her, doesn't linger on her bosom or the droplets falling. The camera in mid (frame) sees her coming out of the water, picks up her bathrobe, wears it and you immediately accept that she is an instructor who is coming and doing her job.

“The very same shot, if the director had decided to go over, it would be objectification. So it's the intention. There's a difference between sensuality and objectification.”

We can’t wait to hear Ms. Fevicol’s rejoinder to this!