It's not about sex only

Bollywood director Karan Razdan is perhaps in a unique situationof being under fire from two diametrically opposite segments. While some groupsare protesting against his filmGirlfriend’s lesbian theme,others are protesting the clichéd depiction of homosexuals.
The paradox is a reflection of the contradictions Bollywood itselfhas generated. Despite the industry’s new clothes, the body needs to betoned.
Here are some clichés that don’t seem to goaway.
Sense &sexuality
The trend that last year’sJism unleashed shows no signs ofstopping with at least four erotic thrillers –Murder, Hawas, Tum andGirlfriend – this year. Whilemost dealt with adultery, the subtext did not change: the heroine strayed notfor pleasure but out of boredom or neglect and the excitement always ended in amurder.
In films like Market, Outof Control and Chupke Se, thegay was an over-the-top effeminate man, offensive not just to homosexuals.
Next Page: Good cops take to terrortactics
Copcapers
If new age films were the buzzword last year, the year2004 might go down in Bollywood history as the year of encounter films. IfAmitabh Bachchan’s angry young inspector Vijay typified the averagepoliceman in the 1970s, the new cop hero is the Mumbai Crime Branch sharpshooter, who pumps bullets into his victims’ heads as if he were munchingpopcorn.
Earlier, if the policemen were either heroes or villains,these days they are either pro-encounter or anti-encounter(Aan, Ab Tak Chappan). Only inKhakee andDev, things aren’t completelyblack or white.
Barmyarmy
If you watch to know all the cuss words in Hindi, lookout for a Bollywood film that has an army guy in a lead role.LoC might suffice for the purpose. Ifcomedy is more like it, don’t miss Ajay Devgan inZameen exchanging some macho dialoguewith a top terrorist, as if they were grown-up boys in a campus fight over agirl.
The older army men are either eccentric characters or strictdisciplinarians in their personal lives.
Next Page: Pretty women get alife
Womenwoes
When was the last time you remember a mainstream heroineshown as a working professional? In three of her biggest films --Koi Mil Gaya, Kal Ho Na Ho andDil Chahta Hai – one of the topactresses Preity Zinta is just a pretty girl, with no identity of her own,except as an appendage to the hero. The globe-trotting Rani Mukherjee startsworking only after her husband dies in HumTum.
Mediamania
The humble journalist has probably got the most dramaticmakeover in Bollywood. In these days of 15 minutes of fame for everyone, thejholawala has given way to theeconomically dressed woman on undercover operation(Charas, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani)or the sound byte hunter. In Zameen,the intrepid camera crews cover the live telecast of a top terrorist beingfreed! (It wasn’t even a spoof like inPhir Bhi..., where they have livecoverage of an execution.)