ITEM | Dance Masala's Nakhre Crew
ITEM, a high energy dance-theatre work by Dance Masala Bollywood Dance School, was a racy, punchy laugh riot on a mission. Camp aesthetics aside, it centred itself on undertaking the complex task of exploring, dissecting, and distilling the phenomenal essence/emergence/presence (whichever you will or all three) of the ‘Item Girls’ in Bollywood and their in-your-face partners - the catchy hook steps, the suggestive lyrics with one too many double entendres, the hip-gyrating, chest-thrusting scintillating moves, the leave-nothing-or-perhaps-everything-to-your-imagination wardrobe choices *wink wink* to name a few.
Image credit: Morgan Roberts
Yes, a few because the ‘Item Girl’ is a dancing, teasing, thriving embodiment of many, many contradictions I cannot address but will attempt to do so in any case. She is an invitation to openly objectify the female form while also being simultaneously inaccessible to the admirers in her midst. For the most part at least. A see-but-no-touch policy in some instances. Whether she is being studied under the supposedly lustful scrutiny of the male gaze or appraised critically through an intersectional feminist lens if you will, the existence and evolution of ‘Item Girls’ and their companion ‘Item Numbers’ to which they perform in Bollywood as well as other Indian language film industries bear testimony to a common constant - the shape-shifting avatars of power they personify is something they have no complete hold over and yet wield absolutely in a range of ways, spaces, and situations, invoking nostalgia and imagination.
The freedom they offer to fantasize, fetishize is wrapped in skin, saree, or whatever sartorial decision they make or are made for them. All of which serve as vehicles for desire to take form and flight in those fleeting moments and possibly more. The starlets of these song-and-dance routines - a growing list, a rising trend and therefore becoming a regular feature of formulaic commercial Indian movies especially of late are all inevitably part of a multi-layered site which breeds and perpetuates problematic discourse pertaining to colourism, casteism (because I cannot pretend that it does not exist) ageism, sexism, and other social ills of a far more heinous nature.
Under the sparkly superficiality of glitz, glamour, and gloss, the tropes and trite storylines employed in Bollywood were and still are gateways into subject matter rife with hard-hitting themes. It was the ingenuity of creator and choreographer, Andrea Lam and director Lisa Fa’ alafi to have packaged and presented ITEM in the multidisciplinary manner they did. As a South Asian woman, who had personally chosen to turn her back on Bollywood a long time ago precisely because it sold unattainable and unidentifiable ideals to me, I genuinely enjoyed the clever collective approach adopted by the team behind ITEM to entertain and gently instigate the audience to consider the unsavoury, indigestible aspects of Bollywood material through humour, satire, acting, storytelling, dance, and heartfelt interviews.
Image credit: Morgan Roberts
The vibe check created by Steven May’s lighting was a hit right from the get-go as the cast of ITEM burst onto the cabaret-esque red-lit set of the New Benner Theatre with impossible-to-ignore sensual moves, fiery infectious energy coupled with the killer intent to perform and, more importantly, provoke with pleasure. The all-female Nakhre crew comprising main performers Andrea Lam, Angela Nair, Ashwin Singh, Janaki Gerard, and Mugdha Khatavkar brought so much vivacity into their respective art-making that their personalities really shone through as the piece unfolded itself in a tight, well-paced composition which spanned an hour.
Hilarity primarily ruled the stage at different points in the show with Lam’s facial expressions effectively drawing laughter from the viewers. So did Nair’s portrayal of the ultimate dream ‘Item Girl’ working and wrestling with her saree pallu (loose end of the saree that is usually draped over the shoulder) to titillate albeit in a rib-tickling fashion (pun could not be helped). Nair’s solo act erupted into guffaws when she ran across the stage, exposing that her saree was part of a longer laundry line with other articles of clothing hanging off it. The idea of the saree traditionally used as a device to inspire desirability without losing respectability was also cheekily interrogated by Lam as she enacted what would potentially happen to the material as well as its wearer when and if elements of nature were manipulated to enhance the sex appeal of the ‘Item Girl’. Gerard’s onscreen get-up and sketch as a yogi-guru with questionable practices provided a good deal of comic relief as well.
ITEM made for a masala dish chock-full of wise witticisms as the performing artists critiqued in a myriad of ways the cringeworthy behaviours of leading men whose blind faith in subscribing to a dogged perseverance in wooing the heroines glaringly revealed how a ‘no’ never equated to a real, hard ‘no’. By virtue or lack thereof based on that (mis)guiding principle, consent too became a vague, invisible, unimaginable concept in the world of Bollywood and beyond. Singh’s monologue recounting her village belle character’s encounter with a predator who violates her was especially poignant and beautifully delivered. Couched as a painfully tender probe into getting the audience members to think about the high incidence and prevalence of sexual assault cases in some parts of India, the general sense of amusement in the show did not disguise this serious, important issue. A bit that I most certainly appreciated for its honesty.
Speaking of authenticity in responses, Julian Palma’s cinematography which took shape in the form of music videos, graphic images superimposed on the highly textured screen, and intimately shot interview recordings shed light on some very personal sentiments expressed by women from the Indian diaspora who grew up loving Bollywood with mixed emotions to contend with.
It is my hope that ITEM will grow stronger in its future iterations and will also consider investigating deeply the kinds of power talented ‘Item Girls’ command too. Bollywood is a strangely attractive beast for sure and the Nakhre Crew roared back at it valiantly with love and a plea for it to change its primal leanings for the better. The efforts of ITEM’s creative team were truly commendable.
