Another day in the circus called Indian politics, and another sensible statement by a pragmatic politician. “Why do girls make boyfriends? If they stop doing this, the atrocities against them will stop,” said BJP MLA Pannalal Shakya while addressing a gathering at the Guna Government College. What’s worse was how BJP Women’s Front President Lata Elkar backed it up by saying the culture of boyfriends/girlfriends was ‘western’.
ALSO READ: BJP MLA’s Advice To Prevent Violence Against Women: Stop Having Boyfriends
After all, it is Hollywood which has ‘Dil’ and ‘Pyaar’ in every other film title. No?
I wouldn’t be surprised if they pointed to every film from SRK’s stalker phase, each time a jilted lover did something nutcase in the real world. Because obviously crimes never happen in married households.
But hey, if Indian girls didn’t ‘make boyfriends’ then these 12 iconic Bollywood films would never get made. Think about it.
1. Chupke Chupke
What if Sharmila Tagore didn’t seek out the charming Botanist Dr Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra)? Dharmendra wouldn’t meet her ‘Jija ji’ and the chaos wouldn’t ensue after that. That would surely not make for an exciting film.
2. Bobby
Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia! If Kapadia had behaved like a super sanskari ‘good girl’ and stayed TF away from Rishi, their young love wouldn’t blossom. That would mean no Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Bandh Ho! What would you even sing at Antaksharis then?
3. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla’s love challenging samaaj and their respective parivaars, wouldn’t be possible. Would you rather Chawla’s Juliet sit in her room with her earphones plugged in as Khan’s Romeo called out to her from near the balcony? Ugh. No!
4. Aashiqui
If Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal didn’t have their (now famous) moment under the jacket in the original film, would Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur even have a career today? How would love-lorn teens woo their lovers in the 90s without the melodious soundtrack of this film?
5. Hum Aapke Hain Koun
Ohho! Now only if Madhuri Dixit had known her maryada and not fallen for Salman Khan, we could have easily been spared an hour from the film’s marathon running-time of 3 hours and 20 mins. Oh we wouldn’t even need divine intervention in terms of Tuffy carrying the letter to Mohnish Behl.
6. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge
The most popular Bollywood love story from the 90s wouldn’t get made, if Kajol quietly agreed to marry Parmeet Sethi. Instead, she embraced the ‘western values’ of road-tripping across Europe with people who were neither her family nor spouse. Chhee chhee!
7. Dil Toh Pagal Hai
If Pooja wasn’t the kind of dreamer about ‘the one’ that would make some people suspect her of having indulged in medications (prescribed of course), would this film even exist? If it wasn’t about women fighting for her man, would we even have that epic dance-off between Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor?
8. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Kajol would have been saved so many tears, if she didn’t seek Rahul as the love of her life and then reconsider him for marriage towards the end. She should have put her head down and married Salman Khan. What is all this Western culture about marrying the one you love?
9. Kaho Na Pyaar Hai
Rohit would have been alive! Both Hrithik Roshans would have not come in harm’s way, if they stayed away Amisha Patel and her father Anupam ‘Sirjee’ Kher. But Rajesh Roshan’s dhamaakedaar music though…
10. Devdas
We would be saved the many renditions to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s epic tale, only if Paro would mind her own business and not indulge the boy next door. Had she not, would Abhay Deol have been able to create a separate identity for himself from the Deol khaandaan?
11. Jab We Met
Had the filmmakers followed the ‘no BF’ rule, Kareena Kapoor would have continued sleeping in the train and not chased Shahid Kapoor in a nondescript railway platform. And then we’d totally missed her hilarious meet-cute with Shahid, while she’s tracking down her first boyfriend.
12. Queen
In Vikas Bahl’s movie if Kangana Ranaut hadn’t ‘maan jao’ for a date with Rajkummar Rao, the rest of her self discovery wouldn’t happen at all. She’d be stuck keeping shop for her Papaji and then marry a guy Papaji chose. Where would the Badra Bahar be then?
So here you have it – if Indian girls didn’t try and ‘make boyfriends’, our films would be all the more poorer for it. We would otherwise be stuck with various versions of Mughal-E-Azam…
