Yes, Namitha and Malavika have emerged as strong item girls, enjoying a huge fan base and contributing to the commercial success of their movies.
Now things seem to be coming full circle. Still there were no signs of the item girls. The trend of leading ladies handling the glamour department and doing the occasional item number passed on safely to the hands of Simran and later Jyothika. There were still no traces of item girls however lead heroines started doing item numbers. Most of the lead ladies followed suit and even tasted considerable success. Remember the sensational 'Chiku Bukku' from Gentleman, the song opened the floodgates, making it no longer unacceptable for a heroine to do item numbers. Then a leading heroine of the times, Gauthami did the unthinkable (at that time), an item song.
Vamps were no longer required in Tamil cinema, nor were the item numbers considered important. Glamour had become the heroine's responsibility and anyone who was not willing to carry on the trend was shown the door or relegated to the odd one or two movies. The then glamour goddess Kushboo, the spicy pair of Roja and Meena and the steaming red hot Rambha and Nagma saw to it that the silver screen is devoid of item girls. This was when the leading ladies decided that they had had enough of hiding in the shadows of the vamps. Suddenly there were no item girls but the glamour quotient never dipped. There was no escaping the item girl till the early nineties when a change came around. Even the big directors had to relent to include one such number in their otherwise realistic movies, whether it dealt with the relationship between a man and a girl suffering from amnesia (Moondram Pirai) or a turbulent story about an ordinary man rising to become Nayagan of the population. Here again, the primary responsibility of these girls were the item numbers. The famous trio's legacy got passed on to another trio of 'Silk' Smitha, 'Disco' Shanthi and Kuyili who went on to become as famous or if not more than the lead heroines of those days. They were primarily in the movies for an item song or as a side kick to the dreaded villains. Their existence was known to be the period in Tamil cinema when the item girl was just as important as the main cast.
They were Jyothilakshmi, Jaya malini, and Anuradha. And for a while there were no big names that gained popularity, till three voluptuous ladies popped up from nowhere to daze the fans. The first known item girl was T.R.Rajakumari though glamour was non-existent during her era, she was still considered sexy by the prevailing standards of that time. We will take you through the lanes these item girls have traveled. The idea was simple: if the heroine can't provide the glamour, bring in someone else who can and the vamp or the item girl was born and the rest, as they say, is history. But then someone had a brainwave, this idea has not been officially credited to anyone and no records exist as to where this idea originated from. It was indeed impossible to infuse glamour into such a setting. They would get up early in the morning, have a bath, light the lamp, worship the Gods and wake their husband with a cup of coffee. There was a time in Tamil cinema when most of the heroine characters were akin to ice maidens - they would never as much as look at the face of a man other than their husband, brother or father. Even the most skilled of directors has to be very careful in handling this part of his/her movie. As we have said once before, the line between glamour and obscenity is a very thin one and can be easily blurred. Of all the elements of commercial cinema, glamour is perhaps the most subtle to handle. In short, it must please the sense without hurting the sensitivities.
All the elements have to be finely mixed in the right proportion to give a product that does not appear too sedate or too crude. Well, we do not mean to pull down this so called 'good' cinema but one must remember and understand that making pure commercial entertainers requires a lot of skill and is an art in itself. There might be people who say that commercial cinema is just trash and that 'good' cinema should be provided to the people. Unless there is action, comedy, romance, sentiments and glamour, a film doesn't qualify to be called a commercial potboiler. A meal is not complete without any of these and so is the commercial cinema. Just like a complete south Indian meal that must have everything right from sambhar, rasam, curd and the desserts, not to forget the favorite of many, the kara kozhambu.
A commercial movie has to have everything.