Bollywood films that addressed social taboos

Twinkle Khanna had turned producer with an out of the league social awareness film ‘PadMan’ starring her husband Akshay Kumar. The actress-turned-writer is once again set to back yet another film on menstruation, reportedly titled ‘First Period’.

She will be releasing the glimpse of the short film on Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28. Written and directed by Mozez Singh of ‘Zubaan’ (2016) fame, ‘First Period’ will talk about the subject from a boy’s point of view in whose world women don’t exist and everything is perfect and empowering.

Mozez was approached by an NGO to work on a subject which also involves men in the conversation and focuses on neutralising gender disparity. He reportedly approached Twinkle with the short film who took up the project soon after.

Cinema has a tremendous power of not only entertaining the audience but also bringing about social change and educating them. Subjects like pre-marital sex, homosexuality and impotency that were earlier considered a hush-hush topic in India, are now a thing the public is open to assimilate, courtesy the films that have tackled taboo social issues with a fresh take and helped in changing the mindset of the audience. Here's a look at a few Bollywood movies that have brought about that change:

Regarded as one of the biggest social dramas directed by showman Raj Kapoor, 'Prem Rog' (1982), starring Rishi Kapoor and Padmini Kolhapuri touched upon the sensitive topic of widow remarriage. The film explored the stigma attached to a widow’s remarriage in the then-contemporary times when they were boycotted from the community and pushed into a life of misery. The movie advocated for wiping out age-old traditions and customs in the favour of widows.

With this movie, Bollywood explored the taboo topics like pre-marital sex and teen-pregnancy. Starring Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan and Chandrachur Singh, 'Kya Kehna' (2000), looked at the said topic rationally and without moral posturing. The film had to face a lot of backlashes because the audience was still not prepared to accept single motherhood out of marriage. However, the storyline and the message it put forward did make the audience view the issue with a new perspective.

'My Brother Nikhil' starring Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri lay emphasis on the stigma that society has when it comes to AIDS. The other element addressed in this social drama was homosexuality. This film was one of the firsts to spread AIDS awareness when the awareness was relatively quite low in India. 'My Brother Nikhil' is centered around a young talented boy who is tested positive with AIDS and how the society reacts towards him. How Nikhil (Sanjay) wins against them all with the help of his sister and friend, forms the crux of the story.

If their previous film 'Kya Kehna' dealt with pre-marital sex and teen-pregnancy, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta's 2005 film 'Salaam Namaste' highlighted yet another controversial topic in India back then, live-in relationships. 'Salaam Namaste' focused on the problems that arise in the relationship of the protagonists and how they deal with them. The film gives away the message that one needs to be aware of all the benefits and baggage that come with live-in relationships.

Director Shoojit Sircar's light-hearted take on infertility and sperm donation in 'Vicky Donor' was much-loved by the audience. The film helped in spreading awareness among childless couples about sperm donation, a topic that has largely been an alien concept in the conservative Indian society. Although it sparked protests in cinema halls and even a court case on charges of obscenity and insulting religion, the Ayushmann Khuranna starrer became a cult hit for its quirky take on sperm donation.

A Hindi remake of the 2013 Tamil film 'Kalyana Samayal Saadham', Ayushmann Khuranna-Bhumi Pednekar starrer 'Shubh Mangal Saavdhan takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the issue of erectile dysfunction and disseminates a social message through gentle comedy. The film uses the taboo subject of impotence to tackle wider issues of patriarchy and conservative values that dominate Indian society.