Have the depictions and politics of sex in Hindi films changed over the years?
Here’s how sex was portrayed in Hindi movies in 2023.
Sangeeta Chakravorty
bollywood
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How has Bollywood portrayed sex in movies and dramas in recent years?
(Photo: Modified by The Quint)
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If there was a title for “The Most Dissected Movie of the Year,” it would be: animal. It was produced by a director who had only made two previous films. animal It could be a genre in itself.
This writer watched the movie clip animal And the movie Priscilla (based on the life of Priscilla Presley) was released on the same day.This article is not about Priscillabut a short clip from animal. Photographed in a speckled room, the couple posts sex in tanned fitness looks, evoking the image of sex as a trendsetter. This would have remained a cryptic music video-like image from one of his most successful films of the year, but in Salute, a male actor throws in the direction of a female actor. This is sex as politics.
Hindi films have moved from depicting sex in a coy and suggestive manner to something more aesthetically appealing. The role of flirtation and seduction no longer applies to his second lead (think of the wonderful Tanuja in the song “”)Raat Akeri Hai” in jewel thief).
Tanuja’s song “Raat Akeli Hai” jewel thief.
(Photo provided by: YouTube)
This is in line with the evolution of a more city-centric film production and movie viewing experience.
Hindi movies are still an escapist experience. Sex and intimate scenes (or “daring scenes,” as some commentators prefer to call them) are rarely trying to convey anything other than lust-fueled desire.
Sex on screen is never mundane, it’s aspirational. However, one could argue that progress has been made, at least in the production of such scenes.
In 2022, a movie with the theme of infidelity (Geraiyaan) became one of the few Hindi films to have an intimacy coordinator on set. However, an intimacy coordinator is not security, it’s just a safety net.
deepika padukone and siddhant chaturvedi Geraiyaan.
(Photo credit: YouTube screenshot)
The Intimacy on Setting Guidelines, credited to British movement director Ita O’Brien, aims to protect actors filming sex scenes in the wake of the #MeToo movement. But desire is hard enough to convey on screen. Not to mention the grammar of acting in sex scenes.
In the wake of #MeToo, actors like Molly Ringwald and Sharon Stone have spoken out in Hollywood about the disruption and exploitation of filming intimate scenes, and the impact such scenes have on “our cultural life.” I’m writing about.
This may make some people wonder if it’s necessary to show sex on screen. In a surprising investigative piece published in The New Yorker in 2018, Ringwald highlighted the vulnerability faced by young actors and the unofficial role of intimacy coordinator, famously played by the actor’s mother. are doing.
pretty
In Indian discourse, sex is a woman’s problem and pleasure is a man’s business. This pervades movies as well. Never has this been more evident than in 2023, with his multiple releases on OTT platforms with ‘bold themes’. Look no further than Matryoshka Dolls in the short film titled . mirrordirected by Konkana Sen Sharma of the anthology series. Last Stories II, Available to watch on Netflix.
Konkona probably knows how to direct delight from his work as an actor in Omkara, a famous adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. Her character here is a woman who has one foot firmly planted in her family and another in her own desires. In her films, she somehow made ordinary things seem erotic.
One of the recently released movies on OTT is Ko gay hum kahan, A young couple arrives in a glass elevator to a hotel room to have sex. You know, as always.Now, compare this to the most unimaginatively named movie of the year Thanks for coming. The widely released film is a narrative that centers pleasure on a morality tale. who did it.
Stills of Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Adarsh Gurav Ko gay hum kahan.
(Photo provided by: YouTube)
Both of these films could be released in 2023, but the Central Board of Film Certification of India said that they were released as early as the late 70s, especially for depicting “overly passionate love scenes” and “obscene sexual situations.” He had the tough job of censoring movies that were released. ”.
Demands for change have led to the use of more ambiguous language that attempts to curb “obscenity” and “depravation.” This approach to hiding sex on screen pushed sex and pleasure further into the realm of fantasy.
Many filmmakers had found refuge in the nimble nature of OTT platforms. However, recently, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced a draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill to “streamline” the regulatory framework applicable to OTT platforms. This could lead to increased censorship of movies and series released directly on the media. Some hope the rules don’t usher in a period of conflict like those seen in the old Hollywood days, when the film industry’s production code, commonly known as the Hays Code, was introduced as a means of censorship. This new but influential code struggled to regulate media, leading to many bizarre incidents of censorship of pleasure and intimacy (and perhaps changing the ending of movies) casablanca).
In the now immortal words of literary critic Elizabeth Hardwick in an essay for Harper’s Magazine, she said, “Books are born in puddles of molasses.”
In an odd parallel, the 2023 Hindi film faithfully recreated this sentiment when it comes to intimacy, pleasure, and sex.
example: pattern and Jawan, two of the most successful films of the year, but the lead actors can’t even find time to kiss.Or a very successful person Rocky and Rani Ki Prem Kahani, the couple shows more willingness when they collaborate on Project Rebellion rather than Snowy Kashmir. (Contrast this with developer D, released in 2009: The lead actor carries a mattress for a rendezvous in a field. )
As a viewer of Hindi films, it’s hard not to be exposed to hope in the form of poetic lines uttered by lyricist Majroo in red nail paint in Anvita Dutt’s Qala, released in 2022. Probably careless. Varun Grover’s kind eyes, says Majroo.Daur badriga, daur ki ye prani aadat hai.”. Let’s hope he’s right.
(Sangeeta Chakravorty is a lawyer and currently a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint We do not endorse or take responsibility for them. )
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