A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. We take a gander at Bollywood’s sensational and bold ladies who have broken convention and sanskaar, punched the moral police, tased the trolls and donned what they pleased, the bare minimum and sometimes even lesser, exercising their right to dress or undress as they please, beholders be damned! Bikinis will always be hot. They don’t always need to be viewed as
vehicles of objectification of women. Sometimes (often these days), it’s just a choice of attire…
Uorfi Javed screams for attention
A case in point. Who is Urfi Javed? She may be lesser known for her acting chops really, but almost everyone knows of her due to her contrived attempts screaming for attention with her wardrobe or lack of it. Thanks to social media. Uorfi Javed (as she has numerologically changed her spelling to and prefers to be called by) goes by the moniker of television actress and social media influencer. Despite numerous serials she has worked in, music videos, as well as the reality shows she has been a part of, on telly and on OTT platforms, she really hit the spotlight with her disrobing acts and the outcomes posted on social media for all to view. Attracting all manner of attention, from law enforcement to gawking onlookers at her often public photo shoots
One doesn’t really want to know what point she is trying to make. Uorfi is a repeat act. Staking her all, she manages to stay in the news over prolonged periods of time, from one shenanigan till her next. Dropping her clothes has earned her oodles of newsprint.
But skin show is not exclusive to the Uorfis of this notorious industry. It has been in existence as far back as the fifties and sixties. In fact, the first case goes further back to 1938, with the film Brahmachari and actress Meenakshi Shirodkar, who apparently sported a one piece swimsuit, and even shed six yards of saree and jumped into a pool, as an act of seduction in the film. That precedes the bikini which is only a 70 year old garment, by a long shot.
Meenakshi Shirodkar in Brahmachari,1938
Considering India is the land of the Kamasutra, sex, nudity, skin show etc. are still discomforting topics causing extreme reactions, mostly not the right ones. Imagine the furore the actresses must have created with their genuinely bold attitudes, wearing swimwear on screen back in the old days. Cultured women wore traditional Indian garb like sarees, and only vamps wore skimpy costumes that too only in films. But cinema has always been the greatest communicator across the passage of time and change. And women have always had to fight for a voice. So Bollywood gradually saw the induction of heroines bold enough to wear swimming costumes –both, one, and two pieces on screen.
Nutan bares it
Leading senior actresses have flaunted figure hugging clothes and bikinis too. Sharmila Tagore (An Evening In Paris), Nutan (Yaadgaar), Nargis (Awara), Mumtaz (Apradh)and Vyjayanthimala (Sangam) sported swimwear in their heydays, and even their modest displays caught some flak, possibly because these generally saree- clad heroines displaying their figures in swimsuits was unpalatable to their adoring fans. Sharmila Tagore sizzled on a magazine cover back in the sixties in which she donned a two piece. It was sheer boldness and a well rounded (no pun intended) and jaunty attitude that held the bikini shoot together for Madame Tagore. For those who’ve seen the pictures, it has remained unforgettable!
The industry’s most loved vamp was Helen, who was a perfect cabaret dancer, and was cast in numerous films for the sheer allure of her dances. Kind of the first one to immortalise what later became known as item songs. To her credit she can never be accused of vulgarity. She was a dream dancer! Her costumes never really overshadowed her coquettish charm.
The seventies and eighties saw the entry of actresses like Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi, girls who were already westernised in attitude and dress sense, a long way off from the demure six yard draped leading ladies. Zeenat was the hottest thing on the beach in Feroz Khan’s Qurbani. Not to forget her scantily clad tribal act in Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Feroz Khan’s films almost invariably had a beach and bikini scene for his heroines. The classy and elegant Parveen Babi too was simply beautiful in a bikini in Yeh Nazdeekiyan. There was the fresh sensational Lovely Laxmi in Julie. And yes, who can forget Dimple Kapadia in her debut- Bobby. A picture of innocence, yet her bikini scene set temperatures soaring. Dimple much later repeated the bikini act in Saagar and Jaanbaaz as well. The titan Raj Kapoor always had a penchant for showing generous amounts of skin with his heroines. He created scenes for them. Think Mandakini (Ram Teri Ganga Maili), Simi Garewal (Mera Naam Joker, and she also had Siddhartha- both where she did a full monty). Times were very different. With top notch or famous directors, these parades were called works of art. Maybe they were done tastefully, where the nudity itself was not the primary focus.
Clothing like hot pants, cleavage revealing sheer gowns etc. were the desired attire given to the vamps or item girls in the eighties- actresses like Aruna Irani, Padma Khanna, Kalpana Iyer, and Bindu. Item songs were here to stay. The nineties brought in our golden girls- Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, jubilant with freshly earned crowns in the international arena. Well, they had to do a swimwear round too, for the contests, while the whole world watched them on television. Somewhere around this time was wrought the change in audiences’ mindsets, that it was neither indecent nor immodest for the girls to sport beachwear etc on screen.
Priyanka Chopra sizzles
The new millennium saw a surge of female talent hit the silver screen. And a surge in bikini wearing heroines. From Bipasha Basu (Jism, Race, Bachna Ae Haseeno, and Dhoom 2) to Priyanka Chopra (Andaaz, Fashion and Dostana), Preity Zinta (Soldier), Lara Dutta (Blue) and more.
Sherlyn Chopra sheds her clothes in all the films she does, yet is not known as an actress. She’s like an older ‘been there done that’ version of Uorfi Javed.
Whilst there are actresses who still request a no-nudity, no lovemaking clauses in their contracts, today, wearing a bikini in films is par for the course. Svelte stunning figures scream to be flaunted. The girls have shed their inhibitions and are quite comfortable doing lovemaking scenes and wearing bikinis and barely-there clothes
Whilst some producers believe that titillation brought in the audiences, that statement has proven itself not necessarily true. Films still tank and sometimes badly. Today, the game has entirely changed with OTT platforms and uncensored material is available literally at one’s fingertips. There’s no dearth of nudity, lovemaking scenes, sex in various forms and classifications, titillation, cusswords, you name it, you got it. And even the staid, prudish censor board is changing its parameters today.
Deepika Padukone, the most sought after heroine currently has done many racy roles and clothes (and magazine covers in bikinis)… Cocktail, steamy chemistry in Gehraaiyaan, and more recently Pathan, where her orange bikini in the song Besharam Rang had tied the nation’s moral monitors in knots. It even caused political protests.
Deepika Padukone is all over social media
Image courtesy: Popdiaries
It has nothing to do with Indian culture and conforming, but everything to do with girls today owning their bodies and looks, feeling comfortable in their skin, and exercising their right to dress any way they please. .
Nobody’s talking about Aamir’s nude act in Ghajini or John’s luscious flaunt in Dostana or nude scene in New York. Ranveer Singh and his nude photographs made a splash. And then died a natural death over time…
Hindi cinema has always been unabashedly chauvinistic, patriarchal and hypocritically gender biased. The rules for actors and actresses are different, no two ways about that. Yes. Even today in 2023. Whether it has to do with screen time, pay parity, dress code, morality, age, or what have you, it’s a different story when you are a woman in Bollywood. Any change is just marginal, and possibly only superficial. Mindsets take a long time changing.
THE BIKINI BOMBSHELL BRIGADE (in films and on personal social media posts)
Dia Mirza
Minissha Lamba (Kidnap)
Mallika Sherawat
Neha Dhupia
Amisha Patel (Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai)
Esha Deol
Sonam (Bewkoofiyan)
Esha Gupta
Aditi Rao Hydari
Freida Pinto (Trishna, Immortal)
Nandana Sen (Rang Rasiya had some scorchingly hot near nude scenes)
Kangana Ranaut, (Rascals)
Kareena Kapoor (and her size zero in Tashan)
Sunny Leone (Ragini MMS and Mastizaade, a sex comedy)
Jacqueline Fernandez,
Ileana D’cruz
Alia Bhatt ( Shaandaar)
Disha Patani
Taapsee Pannu
Fatima Sana Shaikh
Anushka Sharma (Ladies Vs Ricky Behl)
Katrina Kaif ( Baar Baar Dekho)
Kiara Advani
Sara Ali Khan
Vaani Kapoor
Shraddha Kapoor
Nargis Fakhri
