Kissing on screen, has always been a big deal in Bollywood. But there have always been the renegades in their day, who would shatter what was ‘acceptable’ according to the society of their time. That’s why, we have a Devika Rani from 1933 who saw a kiss for what it was.
After a couple of progressive decades between the 1930s and 1950s, we discovered the cut-away to flowers cross-pollinating as the characters on screen made out. And that plagued us for a good five decades barring the odd kiss on screen, before Karisma Kapoor and Aamir Khan’s Raja Hindustani changed the game by (reportedly) filming the longest kiss of their time.
We also make a big deal of our male superstars kissing on screen, considering they’re expected to live up to the image of the ideal son, ideal lover, ideal husband. If the woman does it, she gets a different name of course. But ‘authenticity in storytelling’ and not just a stunt – forced even the likes of Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan to kiss on screen.
With the likes of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, it’s become a thing that is not much of a big deal. And kissing on screen should be like that. After all, it’s only a way to express your love for someone. Why burn effigies around such a thing?
