For films that deal with social taboos, a right balance of comic story-telling and emotion can do the magic. This helps the audience resonate and empathise with the characters in the story and further engrosses them in the unfolding of the narrative.
Indians remain to be tight-lipped over a lot of topics and refrain from discussing them in public. A commentary, even if subtle, on issues such as menstruation, homosexuality, widow remarriage or pre-marital sex have landed many from the media fraternity in trouble. Not anymore; courtesy mainstream films narrating stories woven around such issues.
While the business of films is all about entertaining the audience, there are filmmakers who rightfully use this platform to talk about social taboos. When such topics are acknowledged on the big screen they become a point of discussion that the public is open to assimilate.
Not many would openly discuss middle-age pregnancy but Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Badhaai Ho has brought this 'taboo' up for discourse. A tricky topic to deal with, director Amit Ravindernath Sharma has turned an uncomfortable subject into comfortable.
So much so, that the film has raked in over Rs 50 crore in five days at the Indian box office. Overseas, the story is no different. It started on a strong note in international markets and is trending in North America. Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted that film can take the lead in North America in the coming days.
Talking about social taboos, Badhaai Ho belongs to the league of 'woke' films that have been the highlight of this year, including Akshay Kumar-starrer Padman and Toilet-Ek Prem Katha.
PadMan broke the stigma around periods when the film addressed the issue of menstruation and how the unavailability of sanitary pads affects a large chunk of the female population in India. Celebrities took up the 'PadMan Challenge' to promote the use of hygienic sanitary products (instead of an unsanitised cloth) during periods. As a part of the challenge, many prominent actors of the film industry posted their pictures with a sanitary pad on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and nominated their friends to do the same.
The challenge elicited a thorough discussion on the stigma surrounding periods and how women deserve affordable hygienic products during their periods.
Films on social taboos isn’t a new trend; the Indian cinema has seen streaks of such films come and go in the past also. For instance, Deepa Mehta touched upon the topic of homosexuality and widow remarriage in her films Fire and Water respectively. 'Showman' Raj Kapoor, in 1982, had advocated the idea of remarrying a widow through his film Prem Rog, one of the biggest social dramas of the time. Kya Kehna, starring Preity Zinta, is one of the earliest films to explore the topic of pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy.
However, it is the fresh approach of contemporary filmmakers towards these topics that helps such films make big bucks. Who would've thought that a film on infertility and sperm donation would be accepted and loved by Indian movie-goers so much that it would make Rs 41 crore at the box office? We are talking about Vicky Donor which was made with a budget of Rs 10 crore.
For films that deal with social taboos, a right balance of comic story-telling and emotion can do the magic. This helps the audience resonate and empathise with the characters in the story and further engrosses them in the unfolding of the narrative.
Films like Toilet Ek Prem Katha on open defecation, Shubh Mangal Savdhan on erectile dysfunction, Lipstick Under My Burkha on unspoken issues like female sexual desire, masturbation, and marital rape managed to get viewers’ attention and resulted in strong business for these films.
Toilet Ek Prem Katha became a roaring success with earnings of Rs 132 crore. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan scored a return on investment of over 67 percent.
However, the journey for Lipstick Under My Burkha was not an easy one. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had termed Alankrita Shrivastava’s directorial as "lady-oriented". It was even denied a certificate until the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal had stepped in.
This did not stop the cinephiles from hitting the theatres when the film ultimately saw the light of day. In fact, it more than doubled its investment (Rs 7 crore) with a collection of Rs 16.52 crore.
While words like sex, menstruation, homosexuality, masturbation still manage to startle many, Bollywood’s soft approach towards normalising these issues is slowly breaking the ice with the audience and making them more receptive to talking about them.
