Casual sex in Bollywood

[prasad1]

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There was a time when casual sex was a complete no-no in Bollywood. Remember the scene in 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' (1995) where Raj (Shah Rukh) had to give Simran (Kajol) a long monologue on 'hindustan ladki ki izzat' after he had joked that there might have been a night of drunken lovemaking between them.
In 'Hum Tum' (2004), Karan (Saif Ali Khan) had to quickly propose marriage after a night of passion with Rhea (Rani Mukherji). Karan felt that was the right thing to do since they had inadvertently ended up in bed after an emotional outburst. Fortunately, Rhea turns down the proposal on the ground that only love should be the reason for such a big commitment. Well, Karan was only following the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) — remember, according to 'hindustani sabhyata' you wed and then you bed or you only bed who you will eventually wed.
More recently, in 'Band Baaja Baraat' (2010), while the morning after was awkward between Bittoo (Ranveer) and Shruti (Anushka), there wasn't too much talk about the 'kand' as they called it.
In fact, it was actually a relief to see that other recent films like 'Jodi Breakers' and 'London Paris New York' treat sex as a natural progression of a boy-girl relationship and not as something that is seen in isolation, only symptomatic of the corrosion of Indian tradition.
If Hindi films mirror societal changes (at least, they claim to in some cases), does that mean we as a society have become more open to casual sex? While the depiction of casual sex on celluloid has come a long way from 'DDLJ' in 1995 to 'LPNY' in 2012, how much has our take on casual sex changed?

Casual sex in Bollywood | First Cut - Yahoo! Movies India

 

[biswa]

Whoa Mr. Prasad, interesting topic! Are you hoping to get some sort of response from TBs on this subject?

 

[prasad1]

Whoa Mr. Prasad, interesting topic! Are you hoping to get some sort of response from TBs on this subject?

LOL
No I want them to get their heads out of sand and take a peek at the changing Indian Culture.

 

[kunjuppu]

i think, the moviedom, is even in a pale way, a reflection of reality. maynot be 100% but definitely reflects some of what is happening in the society.

it is my belief, that we know very little of what our children do. atleast most of us. if these have to wait till 30s before marriage, i see extra marital sex as a happening phenomenon. i think so.

 

[prasad1]

Does movies follow the society, or do they blaze their own trail? I think the moviemakers take hint from society and them dramatize it.

 

[kunjuppu]

Does movies follow the society, or do they blaze their own trail? I think the moviemakers take hint from society and them dramatize it.

maybe movie makers take the lead and form opinions? esp in tamil nadu?

i find there are two aspects...atleast from what i know.

one is intercaste marriages - initially i think it was targetted at the brahmins (vedam pudhidhu etc) where there was clear brahmin identity. these progressed, till now a days, one knows that one of the characters in a love match is a brahmin by viewing the movie and not much fuss is made of this. eg. uthama puthiran and likes.

on the other hand, of late, i have seen blogs, which claim that movies like virumandi and such, promote thevar caste feelings. much to the detriment of dalits. in these types of movies, brahmins are not even bit players, reflecting the reality of rural tamil nadu, where i am told the brahmin presence is next to nil these days.

i dont think hindi cinema is like this..ie such vast influence on the society.

 

[biswa]

I think current Indian parents have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

 

[kunjuppu]

I think current Indian parents have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

i think this is with parents everywhere. after a certain age, it is a good idea. though with your daughters, you might want to introduce them to the birth control pill, only because, inspite of equality of opportunities, it is the female that gets laid with the egg.

seriously.

and with current attitudes trending towards keeping the baby as opposed to abortion, i have seen teenage mothers, doing high school while washing nappies at the same time. could have been avoided had these girls knew more about birth control.

 

[renuka]

I think current Indian parents have a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Dear Biswa,

I feel we as parents should know what our children do and warn them of STD/HIV, unwanted pregnancies, the sexual act being filmed and uploaded on line which can lead to black mail/suicide etc.

When my son turned 12...I explained to him all about sex the and the legal implications of statutory rape and not to ever respond to any teen girl.
I also explained to him that girls mature before guys and the sex drive develops earlier and so they might want to get cosy with their teen male friends and this might land the male in juvenile court for statutory rape.

If I had a daughter I would have also cautioned her to the changes in the body and the attraction to the opposite sex which comes after puberty so that no one will take advantage of her.

When my son goes to college..I will advise him safe sex if abstinence might not be possible.
If I had a daughter I would have advised her the same too..its better to know about contraception instead of landing up with an unwanted pregnancy or worse still some STD/HIV.

Children also need to be cautioned about spy cams in bedrooms with might be laid by others.

We need to tell our kids that sex with the right person (with consent) is NOT a crime its about two adults sharing their mutual feeling of attraction and love.

Marriage might come after that or it might not.

Just to add..we need to also know the sexual orientation of our children.
I have seen parents not aware that their children are gay and these boys have no idea about safe sex and land up with HIV at the age of 25 itself.

So it is good for us to know everything so that we can guide them.

 

[vsubbu48]

I do not think bollywood reflects the society because the societies in India are vastly different from each other. It is said that different parts of India live in different centuries. But they pick up some isolated incidents and show it as representative of the society. Recently a wife of a naval officer has complained that wife swapping is common among naval officers in Kochi. I am sure some bollywood director will latch on to this news item and make a film to show that this is a common occurrence in our society.