Aural Sleaze in Urban Mohalla: Loudness and the New Digital Sonotope of Item Numbers

Abstract

The hypersexualized song and dance spectacles of Bombay cinema known as item numbers are hybrid ensembles that operate as standalone ‘attractions’ outside narrative and theatrical cinema to later acquire a life via the internet and live circuits. With digital as the vortex, this multimedia constellation of the item number and its loudness cartographs spaces and renders visible bodies that are increasingly affected by a powerful sensorium. This article maps the auditory afterlife of the item number based on case studies of election campaigns, low-cost media consumption, and club culture. It demonstrates the recalibration of sense-perceptions in specific socio-economic urban formations, as the item number moves through a complex matrix of sleaze, power, and labor.