The great white item bombs - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: Tollywood has always had a fair skin fixation, with North Indian actresses regularly preferred for female lead roles. In the last two or three years, a new element has been added to this syndrome with Caucasian girls being drafted to item song chorus lines.

These girls make up the frame, doing calisthenics in the background as the lead pair cavort in the foreground. Occasionally, one of them may get to shake their bust or butt for the voyeuristic pleasure of the audience. What started as a stray phenomenon has now become de riguer for item songs in Telugu films.

A few of these dancers and ramp walkers have even graduated to 15 minutes of fame. One of them is Iryna Shevchuk, a Ukrainian who did the item song 'Ringa Ringa' in the Allu Arjun starrer 'Arya 2', two years ago.

The song is a hip-jiggling number about a Western lass who is oh-so tired of Caucasian colts in Washington and moved to Rayalaseema because she prefers the virile lads there.

'My real name is Andreana Shevringa, but because my boy-toy couldn't pronounce the name, I'm called Ringa,' she trills in the song, which has been sizzling YouTube since the movie's release.

'The logic is very simple. Finding good looking Telugu dancers with good physiques is difficult. Foreign dancers are used as props'as dancers or extras'and are often paid double that of Indian dancers.

To keep in mind the entertainment and glamour quotient, we are roping in the foreigners,' says Suresh Babu, owner, Suresh Productions. 'Meaty roles for foreign nationals are still few and far between.'

'Production costs have risen in the last two decades. I think this is economics at work. Flying the cast and crew to foreign locales is still a very expensive proposition for Tollywood films.

So this is a good place to cut costs'even though foreign dancers may be more expensive than Indians'when you add airfare, hotel and other costs'they are a more efficient option,' reasons Babu, who bought the Telugu dubbing rights of Bollywood film 'Dum Maro Dum'.

'White dancers are a staple in Bollywood item numbers now, Tollywood's competition. Telugu girls are not really good at Western dance,' says actor Shraddha Das, the manipulative girl from Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji'. 'Foreigners are less inhibited and are OK with bold moves,' she adds candidly.

It's a symptom of Tollywood's fantasy of Caucasian sexuality. Iryna has become a star of sorts since that number, going on to do similar numbers for movies like 'Mahatma' ('Eala pata, nee nota'), 'Arya 2' ('Ek Niranjan'), etc. Today she commands Rs 2 lakh per item song, and Rs 1.25 lakh for stage appearances.

That's a princely sum for dancers. Most are used to fill the choreographed frame, and paid about Rs 5,000-10,000 for a day's work on the sets, or for cocktail appearances at producers' parties, cheerleader acts at Tollywood cricket matches, ramp walks at music launches etc.

Local dancers from Hyderabad are paid a paltry Rs 500 in comparison, and are are used as distant dancers in the choreography.

'Most of these light-skinned women are from countries that used to be part of the old Soviet Union, like Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan. Ever since their home economy fell apart, young women from these countries have been coming to India to find work as Bollywood extras, ramp walkers at fashion shows, or just ambient figures at parties.

Some of them have work permits, some are illegal and some are here as students. Many have figured in the flesh trade as well,' says a Tollywood source. The trend was heralded in actor Venkatesh's films, which later became a regular feature.

It's big business. Keeping the demand of producers in mind, dance troupes were formed in the mid-90s, headquartered in Mumbai. World-class studios like Ramoji Film City brought these troupes directly to Hyderabad.

The Belarus girls in Hyderabad are second or third-rung performers, with more professional girls finding patronage at international film-related events, ethnic shows and culture summits across Europe and elsewhere. Belarus has a rich tradition in the world of dance. Till the end of the 20th century, Belarus girls held sway all over Europe and the US, thanks to their training in multiple genres'folk and ballet.

They claim: 'We are at a cutting edge when it comes to performance. Basically, we are lovers of aerobics. We don't need to practice much thanks to our training.' Choreographers love them as they are easy to train, have hourglass figures, and are comfortable wearing revealing or skintight costumes.

This makes them suitable for lithe steps demanded by today's choreographers. They don't even need too much rouge in the make-up, and have no qualms about exposing cleavage.

Sometimes they even end up with small roles in the films. 'Linda played a foreigner in the Nagarjuna-starrer 'Kedi'. I saw her in 'Kabul Express', and wanted someone who wasn't too blonde. So I chose her. Moreover she lives in Mumbai making it easier to get dates,' says filmmaker Kiran Kumar.

Most of them do not speak even English, but are very professional, a trait much desired by directors on tight budgets. By and large, the Telugu film industry treats them with respect. They are rather good at protecting themselves from set-side lechers.

With a steady flow of work in regional films, they have now banded together, working through agents and coordinators, mostly in Mumbai. When Telegu directors need to flash fair skin and long legs in an item number, they call up these coordinators in Mumbai and ask for the required number. They are flown in, lodged at good hotels, looked after and dispatched home after work.

Compared to Mumbai, they find Tollywood a comfortable place, though not lucrative. Once a year, they visit their homeland. Some return, others don't. But so long as they are here, they keep hoping that Indian films and their viewers won't change in their liking for fair skin.