With Kama Sutra completing 28 years recently, it brings along a wave of positivism around sex and pleasure. It gives way to jump-start a much needed conversation, steered from the shame and taboos related to the topic to the more practical and enjoyable aspects of it. And these conversations are absolutely essential if one plans to have a positive outlook towards sex.
One way to encourage some sexual tête-à-tête is to normalize it by dismantling the taboos lodged around the subject and by stirring debate about sex and pleasure, movies like Kama Sutra do just that. However, in no way is it the only one to do so as there is a plethora of movies with sex positive attitudes to promote a healthy attitude towards the hush hush subject. We bring a list of Indian movies that handle sex positivity like a boss!
Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016)
This movie intricately explores the journey of four women in the town of Bhopal, each at a different stage of life, who are fighting societal restrictions and familial responsibilities to find their sexual liberty. The topic of sex positivity has been dealt in a way where women of all age groups are shown to own and exhibit their sexual desires in a liberated manner. In a country where women often end up labelled as ‘selfish’ for considering their own sexual pleasure first, Lipstick Under My Burkha is a movie that tackles the issues in a daily-day small town setting where women are clawing their way up the ladder of physical freedom.
Fire (1996)
In the age where Indians were not ready to accept same-sex love (most still aren’t), this movie presented the concepts of queer relationships, feminism, patriarchy through ages and wonderfully so. It meanders through the journey of two women in loveless marriages where they gravitate towards each other and it eventually pivots into a same-sex relationship. In a time where such issues were frowned upon and abhorred, we were presented with such a story that paves way for a debate around the LGBTQ diaspora in a tragic tale.
Dolly, Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare (2019)
A movie that tackles LGBTQ portrayal down to the core and gets it right too! It offers a wholesome and positive view to the otherwise tabooed subject of female sexual pleasure and shame that society has pinned to it. The movie shows the tale of two cousins living in Noida, battling through their own complexities and trying to find their pace. The film also shows sex work in a positive light as a choice and not as the much stereotyped resort for a woman and all we can do is take notes.
Parched (2015)
This movie asks the important questions like why are all cusswords directed towards women and not men? And honestly, I agree! The layered plot of the film shows how even when women are the blatant victims of patriarchy, they still somehow condone the practices. It has a beautiful representation of women who are parched to be treated right in some or the other aspect and are trying to do their best with the society around them.
The Mirror – Lust Stories 2 (2023)
This short film from the movie stands apart in the conversation about pleasure and sexuality in daily lives. It shows two women acting on their sexual desires maybe not in the way one would expect but powering through nonetheless. It is bordering on moral boundaries of rights and wrongs of desires and the way one acts upon them.
Memories In March (2010)
It is a film that will compel you to think about love, life and everything that lies between. It depicts how grief and relationships often go hand in hand in one’s life. It might not have much discourse around sexual desires and pleasure but it still gives a far too crucial insight into same sex relationships and how they are dealt with in a brown family setting.
Margarita With A Straw (2014)
Desire is universal, it does not distinguish between different genders and levels of physical abilities. This is exactly what we see in this movie, following a woman with cerebral palsy and the discovery of her sexual desires. The film does not seek sympathy rather it provides a much needed and distinguished representation of disabled sexuality.
While all these movies motivated us to talk about sex in a much more free fashion, why do we still feel that there is a long way to go before we even consider ourselves developed enough as a society to accept open discussion about pleasure and desire.