Bollywood Rom-Coms

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol pictured in their classic, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaynege

Rom-coms have easily become one of the trademarks of South Asian cinema, and actors like Shah Rukh Khan have cemented their careers with classics in this genre that every Indian is bound to know, like Kuch Kuch Kota Hai and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Perhaps the reason for rom-coms’ widespread popularity is the prevalence of our world-renown arranged marriages that provide youth with limited autonomy and room for love in their young lives. Rom-coms are an escape from this reality, providing marriage-age youth with some optimism about a future with love marriages. These films have the potential to inspire audiences and influence their perspectives on love and marriage, yet a closer look at South Asian cinema’s depiction of these concepts highlights a few gaping issues that must be addressed.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai highlights a powerful theme of “Love is friendship” throughout the film, from the classroom scene where the professor poses a question about the true meaning of friendship to the ending scene where Rahul and Anjali finally unite. However, it takes a slow-motion scene with Rahul finding Anjali in a new persona with saree, makeup, and jewelry, combined with a few more chemistry-building scenes to realize that he has feelings for her. This is the same Rahul who spontaneously fell in love with Tina in his college days at “first sight” as she is introduced in her fashionable Western style, whipping her hair elegantly in yet another slow-motion scene.

Sound familiar?

Three years after the release of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol bring back their chemistry on the screen with another classic, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Rahul once again magically falls in love with Anjali at first sight upon seeing her celebrate a cricket match victory by dancing with pure joy, causing the world to spin ever-so slowly as he admires his lover.

While the primary goal of rom-com films like these is not to depict the philosophy of love at its purest form, a better effort must be made to defeat this notion of physical attraction being the primary basis of cinematic love and promote more meaningful messages. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai almost goes as far as expressing this dangerous idea that one must change his/her appearance and personality to find success in love. These films subconsciously influence the audience’s perception of love through these subtle messages, and they tend to leave out crucial aspects such as companionship, friendship, upliftment, mutual sacrifice, and self-development. In a culture where marriage decisions have historically been made by simply looking at one another’s photos and resumes or discussing life plans in a quick five-minute conversation at the bride’s house, we must do better. In a culture where guys profess their “love” to girls after laying their eyes on them and throw acid on the girls’ face if they get rejected, we must do better. In a culture where marriages are celebrated on such a grand scale and have lost their philosophical meaning amidst material pleasures and societal expectations, we must do better.

Films like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani offer some hope that Bollywood rom-coms can combine a laugh with a meaningful message. Director Ayan Mukerji captures Naina and Bunny’s natural chemistry progression through an adventurous vacation in which the two develop a deep friendship before realizing that they love each other. Filled with reflective conversations, companionship, sacrifice, and mutual understanding, Naina and Bunny’s bond extends deeper than the typical Bollywood rom-com while still entertaining the audience. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi also combines Suri’s hilarious experiment in reinventing his persona with the deep theme of accepting a person for who they are. We need more films like these to set the tone for our next generation of youth who learn and adopt perspectives from Bollywood cinema. Only then can our culture move away from surface level conceptions and do cinematic justice to this complex human emotion.