From Kissing Flowers In 60s To Actors Going All Out In Movies Like Toxic, Here's How Romance Has Changed In Indian Cinema

One look at Bollywood films and web series today and the amount of sensual scenes shown leaves nothing to imagination. From love making to kissing (except for explicit nudity), such scenes have become a standard staple especially in romantic and horror films. When the Tabaahi song from Yash, Kiara Advani starrer Toxic dropped, it showed both stars with no holds barred. While a few felt there was nothing toxic about it, many felt compelled to speak up against the depiction of two very much in love characters making out on screen. So much noise was made that Yash recently told the media that his wife Radhika Pandit would be “uncomfortable" while watching the intimate scenes between him and Kiara. But here’s the thing, kissing scenes are not a new phenomenon in Bollywood.

Dancing flowers

Throughout the 1960s, Bollywood films mostly were based on romance. Yet, when it came to the ultimate form of expressing love… kissing… Hindi films shied away from showing it and instead two flowers were shown shimmying together. Laughable as it is now in 2026, but watch any “old” romantic film and you will see the ‘kissing flowers’ at their blossomiest best!

It was Raj Kapoor who broke all taboos surrounding kissing scenes. His films like Bobby (1973) and Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) didn’t shy away from showing lip locks.

Poster boys

Emraan Hashmi in the early 2000s was the poster boy for kissing scenes but in the late 1980s and 1990s it was hands down Aamir Khan who had kissing scenes in films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Dil (1990), and of course Raja Hindustani (1996). He will perhaps remain the only actor who has kissed both Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan (3 Idiots) on screen.

Akshay Kumar too has kissed many of his leading ladies on screen in films like Yeh Dillagi (1994) (Kajol), Andaz (2003) (Priyanka Chopra), Kambakkht Ishq (2009) (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and many more.

Kiss and don’t tell

In 2009, Oprah Winfrey had infamously asked why Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, despite a successful career of so many years and foray in Hollywood, why she decided to have a no-kissing clause. “I understand you have never been kissed on camera,” she had asked the actress. In her reply, Aishwarya had laughed and said ‘Go on baby’ after which Abhishek Bachchan gave her a peck on the cheek.

Little did Winfrey know that the Bachchan bahu had been kissed on screen quite a few times and had already locked lips in one of the steamiest smooch scenes in Bollywood with Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom 2 (2006).

Voyeuristic viewers

As an audience, Indians don’t shy away from watching pornographic material. Right from the comforts of their homes to even legislative assemblies, sexual content has a massive fan base in our country. Let’s face it, we are all voyeuristic by nature and love to watch what happens behind closed doors. The problem is, Bollywood rarely gets it right!

Over the years most kissing scenes in Bollywood films feel forced or gimmicky. If one actor does it, everyone else wants to do it. Remember the massive feather implied kiss scene between Shehzada Salim (Dilip Kumar) and Anarkali (Madhubala) in Mughal-E-Azam (1960)? It was shot aesthetically and looked so classy. Sadly, one can’t say the same about the smooches that we get to see in almost every film these days.

Do we really need kissing scenes in our films?

There is a very thin line between being sensual and vulgar and unfortunately, most Hindi filmmakers end up doing the latter. Also, in India there is even today an almost ‘cultural thing’ of watching movies with our families so each time such a scene comes up it is most certainly going to leave everyone uncomfortable, squirming or pretending as if nothing is happening thus ruining the moment in the film’s storyline.

Coming back to the dancing flowers, Bollywood has definitely locked them up in its annals and the only thing that seems to be continuing is lip locks.

No kissing please

Salman Khan remains one of the few Bollywood actors from the 1990s who has never kissed his heroine on screen.

His Dabangg co-star Sonakshi Sinha too has a no kiss clause in her contracts.

First Silent Kiss: A Throw of Dice (1929) contained early romantic embraces and kisses between Seeta Devi and Charu Roy.

First Talkie Kiss: Karma (1933) featured Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai in a famous extended sequence.

The Return of the Lip-Lock: On-screen kissing did not genuinely return to mainstream Hindi features until Raj Kapoor's teenage romance Bobby (1973).

First same sex kiss: There is an implied lip lock between Parveen Babi and Hema Malini in the song Khwab Ban Kar Koi Aayega from Razia Sultan (1983).

Published on: Saturday, August 22, 2026, 09:31 PM IST