Bollywood’s kissing scenes explained

Here’s how kissing scenes evolved over the decades in Bollywood.

Transcript

00:00Once upon a time, intimate scenes in Indian cinema looked something like this.

00:04And 70 years later, Imran Hashmi entered the chart.

00:08So how did we get here?

00:16Let's take a trip back in time when Indian cinema's first kiss

00:20appeared in a silent film called A Throw of Dice.

00:23It was made by German director Franz Osten and was based on a chapter from the Mahabharata.

00:28The story was about two kings gambling to marry a commoner.

00:31The black and white kissing scene featured Sita Devi who played a village girl

00:36and Charu Roy who portrayed the role of the king.

00:43The 1933 film Karma was made for an international audience.

00:47It supposedly featured a long kissing scene between actors Devika and Himanshu Roy

00:52who were married in real life.

00:54The movie was shot by a crew from India, Germany and the UK

00:58and was released in London first before its debut in India.

01:02But the movie failed at the box office.

01:08Public displays of affection were not common on or off screen.

01:12After independence, India set up a film advisory board and adopted strict guidelines.

01:18Since depicting intimacy on screen was not an option,

01:21filmmakers sought creative alternatives.

01:24And thus the era of using flowers and birds as symbols for kissing and sex began.

01:29Some directors also relied on elements such as water and fire

01:33to depict carnal emotions and desires.

01:40After superstar Raj Kapoor took up direction,

01:43many of his films showed couples kissing.

01:45Experts later credited him for his bold choices

01:48and the way he bypassed state censorship.

01:55This coming-of-age era saw many top actors including Aamir Khan,

01:59Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor among others locking lips on the big screen.

02:04It was a bold new era for Indian cinema.

02:13The 2004 film Murder was a pathbreaker.

02:20Actors Imran Hashmi and Mallika Shiravach shared a no-holes-barred sexual chemistry.

02:26The same year, Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan's passionate kissing scene in Dhoom 2

02:31resulted in multiple legal notices handed to the actors.

02:35Several films once banned by the Indian Censor Board found a new life on OTT platforms.

02:45Filmmakers displayed bold new narratives and plenty of intimacy on-screen followed.

02:50Some film sets were also equipped with intimacy coordinators

02:54that helped make shoots safer for actors.

02:57However, uproar over kissing scenes still continued.

03:01In 2024, a kissing scene between actors Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan in the film Fighter

03:07led to a legal notice.

03:08The film was accused of disrespecting the Indian Air Force uniform.