Choreographer Terence Lewis on why item numbers need to undergo a sea change
Subhash K Jha (DNA; December 29, 2016)

With the Laila song from Raees (featuring Sunny Leone) and the Haseeno Ka Deewana track from Kaabil (featuring Urvashi Rautela) gaining popularity with millions of views, it’s clear that item songs are back, or rather that they never left the Bollywood scene.

And to understand how we patronise such songs or if the impact of such songs on pop culture needed any more underlining, one only has to look at the recent AIB (All India Bakchod) video on Harassment Through The Ages.

Collapsing culture
Going by what he feels are “falling standards of Bollywood choreography,” choreographer Terence Lewis has spoken out about why he gave up Bollywood choreography five years ago and talks about the “collapsing culture” of item songs.

Says Terence, “Rarely does the Bollywood school work on ingenuity. It instead operates on clichéd formulae. The trouble is we are too tolerant. We don’t get bored easily. We need to be hit by a cyclone on our head to realise we are being served old wine in a new bottle.”

Team effort required
But it isn’t all dark days he bodes for B-Town. He admits that the status quo is changing, citing ABCD 1 & 2, Kamli from Dhoom: 3, Chikni Chameli (Agneepath) and Ram Chahe Leela (Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela) as examples of well-designed choreography for the genre. He adds, “It’s the job of influential choreographers to bring about a change. To create a good item number is a team effort. It requires the actor-director-choreographer nexus to grow stronger to ensure that substandard repetitive clichéd steps are completely weeded out and replaced by a fresh perspective.”

The way forward
Terence feels the dance reality shows have raised the bar, “Today’s contestants from dance shows on television will rewrite Bollywood choreography going forward.”