Item Quotient

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: the audience to connect with film. To begin with, it does drive up music sales. But it doesn’t generate any box-office numbers.”

Entertainment analysts say a good production house will not spend a bomb on an item song because effectively, you are then hinging the fate of your film on one song, which is silly. Apparently, SRK did it for free in Krazzy4, which is good news for Rakesh Roshan Productions as the film didn’t really sizzle at the BO.

“Item numbers, however good, cannot attract audiences for more than five days,” insists Dale Bhagwagar, publicist to Hrithik Roshan, Shilpa Shetty, Viveik Oberoi,

Randeep Hooda and films of Ritesh Sidhwani-Farhan Akhtar and Ashok Amritraj. Shetty, (if you leave Helen or even Madhuri in Ek Do Teen aside) it can be safely said, started the whole “item” number craze when she did the UP, Bihar Lootne… routine for a film nobody cares to remember (Shool 1999, if you really want to know!). She is also doing a number for Tarun Mansukhani-directed upcoming film Dostana, from the stable of Dharma Productions, a film production company of Yash and Karan Johar.

Though no one’s willing to come on record on how much a star charges for an item number—“it could be anything between a token Rs 11 to lakhs of rupees”, according to Bollywood insiders big stars can demand as much as Rs 50 lakh and go up to a crore for a song and dance routine. Says another industry watcher, “The money an actor demands depends on his/her current status. For instance, Kareena’s charges post Jab We Met are certainly on the ascendant, even for an item number.”

Also, over the last couple of years, music companies have been insisting on one song that can drive sales, points out Sarita Patil, head, feature films, Percept Picture Company. According to the recent PwC-Ficci report, globally, the music industry is under-performing and the trend is similar in India. The overall music industry grew marginally by 1% in 2007 and stands at an estimated Rs 700 crore. With physical music sales in decline, analysts say it makes sense for music companies to insist on a song-and-dance routine to push up sales.