We’re baring ourselves on screen, literally!
For some reason, recently there has been a surge in the number of sex scenes shown in Indian movies and series. And somehow, all of them seem a little forced. I mean, somehow, they all are a little cringe-worthy, even when they’re trying to make it look hot and steamy.
I’ve watched a lot of Indian series over the past few months and all of them had one underlying theme, a multitude of sex scenes. The weird thing is that most of them show it in a very crude manner, which somehow makes the viewer feel as if it’s dirty. More often than not, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It makes me feel as if something about it is not right, something about it is not hot, something about it is not relevant to the plot, something about it is….vulgar.
The reason that I started to notice this is because I usually don’t like to watch Indian series, no particular reason, just a choice. But my mother does watch them and well, because of her, I got into it too. Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of Hollywood movies and shows which have really explicit scenes and are thriving because of that sole reason. But there’s an underlying current of subtlety in most of those scenes. Maybe it’s just natural for me to see two foreigners at it than brown people who have just now forayed into this area of their job as actors. Maybe it’s the ease with which Hollywood has been doing this for years that makes it okay for us.
A constant pattern that emerges from Indian content creators is the usage of sex scenes to portray ill-intentions toward a woman. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I feel that it is often showed in a derogatory sense toward a woman. A lot of these scenes are about violence against a woman or using her to get something. What I’m trying to say is that these scenes are often shown as ill-intentioned moves made by a character to gain something out of the situation. Even when it’s with mutual consent, there’s a certain gruffness to it always, as if they’re personifying lyrics of the song ‘Poker face’ by Lady Gaga, “And baby, when it’s love, if it’s not rough, it isn’t fun.”
I’m not saying same is not the case with Hollywood. There absolutely is. But then there are also movies and shows which show the act of sex between couples as an extension of love. It feels as if India, with it’s new found sense of freedom of talking about all things taboo, wants to prove a point to the world that we are as cool and unaffected as anybody can be about sex on screen. It’s as if content creators are trying too hard to make a point that today Indians are so hip that a one-night stand is something most of us have every Saturday night. Ouch.
Well, to be honest, we had it coming, what with all of us shamming old Bollywood movies showing flowers touching each other in order to get the message across that the characters had slept together. Yes, it’s important for certain stories to show intimacy between characters. It’s part of their story. Showing physical intimacy for a pair of lovers gives the signal to the audience that we’re onto the next level in their relationship, basically indicating we’re moving forward now, brace yourselves. But showing it every two minutes is not going to do anything for the story, except make a viewer sigh and say, “Yeah, I get it, they’re crazy for each other.”
I think it’s great that a lot of new Indian shows talk about so many important social issues that we, as a society, still struggle to identify with and accept. It’s great that we have so many shows portraying LGBTQ couples in mainstream content. It’s great that we talk about women and their desires. But what’s not great is the unnecessary introduction of a scene which is in your face, trying to prove to ourselves that we don’t give a…..
