This is the Item Song effect, and love it or hate it, this phenomena is slowly taking over Bollywood films, school annual days, garbha nights and our car stereos in long winding traffic snarls.

This is the hottest topic brewing in B Town to be or not to be ‘item songed’ ! The Central Board of Film Certification's (CBFC) early this month has issued a statement to be more stringent about the content of item songs which go on TV. This has opened up a Pandora’s Box with the somebodies’ and the everybodies’in the industry having an opinion or two.

It’s hard to think that such a statement is come in now, when every mainstream heroine wants to rule as the item queen instead of winning the best actress! The hero’s stardom is outshone by the item song that the promos boast of in the run up to the film.  Take every film that has released in the last couple of years, ‘Munni Badnam’ catapulted Dabangg to the 100 Cr. Club, apart from Akshay’s brawn power, the only thing remembered about Tees Maar Khan! is ‘Sheila’.  Joker is better remembered with Chitrangda’s lavani number.

The thinking person’s actors have come forward and supported this movement , with the brightest find of last year, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who starred in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ , ‘Talaash’ and ‘Kahaani’ among others . “This ban on item songs is very necessary. If you say that TV is a family entertainer, then there are kids as well in a family and don't learn anything other than this," the 39-year-old was spotted saying.

These elements have definitely made the film industry go back to their studios to do some brainstorming and come up with stories that stand tall on good performances rather than the sleazy, cheesy lyrics and provocative dance moves. Films like Barfi, 3 Idiots, Paan Singh Tomar, Kahaani, Kai Po Che are campaigning for the script being the star attraction.

On the other hand item songs have been a part of Indian films of all regions and languages from time immemorial, can you imagine the legendary Sholay without Helen’s ‘Mehbooba oh Mehbooba’ or Qurbaani without, ‘Laila O Laila’. Successful filmmakers have also incorporated these raunchy numbers as part of the script like Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, ‘ Hamma Hamma’ or Guru with Mallika Sherawat’s, ‘Maiya Maiya’. In these cases it is incorporated as an essential part of the film script that propels the story forward, just as the song-dance sequences in our films do.

So we are back to our what comes first the chicken or hen situation, let ‘s hand the ball to the filmmakers, who appreciate their audiences and will not lure them to a bad story with a juicy item number or term it as ‘essential for the script’. Let the brains behind these songs tone down their enthusiasm, libido and their taste for the banal and the blatant!

On the other hand if the first two stalls is your target audience, then why not devise a method to restrict the viewership to adults, and the little kids can be spared from growing up too fast, too soon and retain the innoncense that our times can spare them!