How Ranveer Singh gave us the male item number in Tattad Tattad
By The stage is set – all eyes are on this one dancer, swaying lasciviously, invariably skimpily dressed, to peppy beats. The gaze follows the dancer to every corner of the stage they strut to. For a good 4-5 minutes, you are hooked, unable to take your eyes off that figure, and frankly you don’t want to. For in those 4-5 minutes, that dancer is your object of attraction, of attention, or simply the object. Except in the 2013-released Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela song Tattad Tattad, it was a man holding our attention.
In this week’s Monday Masala, we talk about how Ranveer Singh, in Tattad Tattad, gave us perhaps the first well-defined male item number.
WAS TATTAD TATTAD A MALE ITEM NUMBER?
Honestly, there’s no better way to describe it. Yes, the phrase itself is derogatory. And yes, we ought to call it a special number or a dance number instead. And once we have these minor tribulations out of the way, let’s get to the point. Not that male solo songs are new to Bollywood. From Saara Zamana to Pag Ghungroo Bandh, they’ve come in all shapes and sizes. But Tattad Tattad stood out simply because of the titillation factor, that up until then were specific to female item numbers. Sex sold, but it was gendered sex. Ram Leela and Ranveer freed it of that bound.