Wet sari scene
Wet sari scenes are an on-screen cliché in Hindi cinema films, in which fully clothed actresses are depicted in wet saris that cling to their bodies. This functions as a proxy for nudity in mainstream Indian cinema, where nudity is taboo.[1]
According to Pooja Makhijani, in an interview with rediff.com:
Bollywood is wonderfully escapist. And completely comforting, as nothing really changes. Every blockbuster has at least one of the following: a wet sari scene, an over-the-top dance number with hundreds of mustachioed extras, an overbearing patriarch, pehla pyar (first love), and a wonderfully choreographed fight sequence in which the police show up the second the bad guys are down and out.[2]
Films showing wet sari scenes include Mera Naam Joker (1970), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) and Kishen Kanhaiya (1990).
See also
References
- "Hottest scene: Mandakini's wet sari". Rediff.com. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
- "'Desis forget they can be perpetrators of racism'". Rediff.com. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
Further reading
- brunch (13 July 2014). "Romance of the Wet Sari: Best Moments". Hindustan Times. India. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- Dwyer, Rachel (2000). "The Erotics of the Wet Sari in Hindi Films". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 23 (2): 143–160. doi:10.1080/00856400008723418. S2CID 143471737. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- Roche, Thomas (7 July 2011). "Blowjobs, Bollywood, 'Delhi Belly' and India's Post-Sex Nation: Is Dirty Talk the New Wet Sari?". Violet Blue. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- Wang, Hansi Lo (3 May 2013). "Bollywood's Early Roots in a Silent Film". Code Switch. All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 10 August 2022. Includes information about the first wet sari scene, in the 1913 film Raja Harischandra.