The songs of Rajiv Rai's Tridev (1989), arguably spelled the death knell for the dancing queens who had hitherto performed the mandatory dance numbers in commercial Hindi films. Earlier, although talented leading ladies like Padmini, Vyajanthi Mala , Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh , Hema Malini and others had performed dance numbers , these were seldom staged in the villain's den or at a nightclub, except under duress (think of Hema Malini in Sholay (1975)). In contrast , Tridev's young leading ladies Madhuri Dixit, Sangeeta Bijlani and Rai's wife Sonam, in a significant attitude shift, were depicted dancing in glamorous cabaret outfits with sundry villains. A year earlier, Madhuri Dixit had already set a new benchmark for heroines performing dance numbers, when she burned the screen with her performance to "Ek, Do, Teen", the first of Saroj Khan's many hit songs with Madhuri. It was a decade after Tezaab (1988), that Malaika Arora made a mark with "Chhaiyya Chhaiyya" in Dil Se (1998).
The subject of this column is the dancing ladies, whose dance numbers (now known as "item numbers") were once considered a lucky charm by distributors. There was a certain dignity in their dance. The character they played was often noble . There was usually a back story to justify their position as a villain's moll. For example in Johnny Mera Naam (1970), Padma Khanna seduces villain Prem Nath in the hope that he will spare the life of her boyfriend. These ladies, with their 'devil-may-care' attitude and 'come-hither' expressions, made the heroines seem virtuous in comparison. In real life, most of these ladies led the disciplined lives of professional dancers, and many were known to wear body suits under their costumes.