This superstar went all glam in an item number almost 20 years ago, becoming India's first item boy
Special songs and dance numbers have been part of Bollywood films for decades. Actresses like Helen and Silk Smitha made their careers by appearing in many of these songs and making themselves indispensable to films’ successes. But as the 21st century began, the term item number began to be used for these songs. Consequently, the women featured in these songs were called item girls. And then, in 2005, in a gender reversal for the ages, Bollywood got its first item boy.
India’s first item boy was...
Shah Rukh Khan was the first mainstream male actor to appear in a film just for an item song. Other stars had made cameos in songs but this time, Shah Rukh was present for his glam factor with the song having to do nothing with the film at large. The film was Kaal, a Karan Johar production, and the song was Kaal Dhamaal, a promotional song featuring Shah Rukh and Malaika Arora, backed by the vocals of Kunal Ganjawala. It was reported that out of his friendship for Karan Johar, Shah Rukh did the song for free. The song was a chartbuster and the music video started the trend of male actors appearing in such songs. Kaal did not benefit much from the song though. The Ajay Devgn, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta, and Esha Deol-starrer underperformed at the box office, earning only Rs 28 crore.
Other Indian actors who became item boys
Shah Rukh started the trend of male stars being in item numbers and others followed suit. Shah Rukh himself appeared in the title track of Krazzy 4 a few years later, with Hrithik Roshan also appearing in another version of the track. Aamir Khan appeared in a retro avatar in I Hate You for Delhi Belly, while Ranbir Kapoor had a dance number in Chillar Party.
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 "A still from Kaal Dhamaal")
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