Gone are the days when kissing on screen had to be shown through the bobbing of a flower or the fogging up of a mirror. While Bollywood stars have been planting sensual kisses on each other’s lips on screen, Tollywood was uncomfortable with the brazen display of affection for a long time. While on-screen kisses were a big deal up until a few years ago, they no longer seem a taboo. After Arjun Reddy, films like RX 100, Goodachari, Paper Boy and the upcoming film 24 Kisses too capture the magic of the kiss.
If the scene calls for it, then why not? “For my film, the scene was very important and the story revolved around it,” says Ajay Bhupathi, the director of RX 100, who says his film is based on a true story and a kiss was vital to it. He added that he didn’t insert it too many times.
The upcoming film 24 Kisses, true to its name, has some lip-locking, as seen in the trailer. “As expected from the title, the movie has a few kissing scenes. But it’s not vulgar and is certainly not intended to attract the audience,” says Ayodhya Kumar, director of the film.
Stills from the movies RX 100
He agrees that while lip-locking is common in Hindi films, the Telugu audience is still getting used to seeing it on the big screen. “The Telugu audience is used to seeing certain kinds of films. Earlier they wouldn’t accept such scenes but these days they are okay with it if you show it in a natural way,” says Ayodhya Kumar.
Stills from the Goodachari
Interestingly, while Hindi films that have kissing scenes are cleared by the censor board without any cuts, they have objections when it comes to Telugu films. “I wanted U/A certification, but the censor people asked me to remove the lip-lock scene. However, I didn’t want to as it was very important for the film. Thus they gave an ‘A’ certificate because of it,” says Ajay.
A still from the film Arjun Reddy
Ayodha Kumar feels there are still regional disparities when it comes to censoring rules. “I still don’t understand why the rules are completely different for Hindi and Telugu films.
“If we insert a kiss scene, they just simply want to certify with ‘A’. But the Hindi film with the same scene will get cleared with U/A or U,” he says.
The recent film Paper Boy too shows a passionate kiss between the lead pair. “We want to show the intimacy between the lead pair and displayed it in a poetic way,” says Sampath Nandi, the producer and writer of the film.
All these filmmakers feel they cannot push too much as the audience here is still not comfortable with bold scenes. “If you are deliberately showing sexy scenes, it becomes vulgar and the film may not run,” says Ayodhya Kumar, who feels the audience will get more accepting with time. “It is going to be a common thing. More filmmakers will come up with kissing scenes in Telugu,” concludes Ayodhya Kumar.
