Names, Places, Events, Things: Ruminations and Essays on Hindu Mythology

When it comes to Hindi movies aka Bollywood, there are two terms that puzzle me the most. Actually there is a lot that puzzles me, but these two are almost like enigma, because I can't understand what in Dadasaheb Phalke's name do they mean. The first one is 'Item Number'. I mean, what exactly is the definition of this term -- an "item number"? When does a song cease to exist being just another song, and suddenly become an Item Number? Earlier it was easy. There would be one jhatka-matka song in the film - especially filmed on some good-looking woman with great body and almost negligible clothing. The song's mood would be different from the overall movie, and most importantly, this femme fatale from the item number had very little (actually absolutely nothing) to do with the rest of the film. So that was easy. But now I am not so sure --- you know, with Shahrukh Khan - not a gorgeous babe but a 45-year old skinny dude - dancing in his own movie whe...