Bollywood romance-then and now

The director of "Chocolate" adds on the deleted smooch scenes in the movie, succumbing to popular pressure (read distributors and actors). In this context I recollect the golden era of great movies when Dilip Kumar would be seen playing an antique piano while wooing his ladylove with lines, somewhat like, "Tu kahe agar to jivan bhar mein geet sunata jaoon". In movies then the proverbial tree proved safe bet in courting scenes to keep the lovers at decent distance from each other. Still safer, lovers in some movies remained separated in much of the footage of the film, content to call from long distance, "Awaz de kahan hei, dunia meri jawan hei". And yet the movies celebrated silver and golden jubilees. Then came along Raj Kapoor's 'Bobby', along with it the new trend of youthful romance, with plenty of hugs between the lead pairs. From then on there was no stopping, especially after the liberalization in the Censor Board policy, and singing and dancing "Choli ke piche kya hei" and the sexier numbers that followed, the films have reached a stage where lead actors compete in the smooch game on the silver screen. Why not, the youth today is far more liberal and fun loving than in yester years and looks for a free life style of unrestricted entertainment in films. Taking no risks or rather playing to popular demand, producers fill their films with bold scenes and daring songs and dance sequences. Hopefully, the present trend of sex overtones in screenplay and songs in films is only a passing phase, which will end when the audience taste changes and it gets fed up with too much sex in films. And it won't be too long a wait, as the super success of films like "Black" and "Parineeta" shows.