Free of Shame
Recent shows and films based on sexual dysfunction are defying taboos around Indian masculinity
over the past year, writer-director Imtiaz Ali has backed two projects that talk about sexual dysfunction. In July, he co-wrote and produced Dr. Arora (2022—), a series about a middle-aged sexologist who takes to the profession after the shame of his own impotence tears apart his life. This month, Ali’s Thai Massage (2022), a social dramedy based on a 70-year-old man’s struggles with erectile dysfunction, was released in theatres. Neither of these is by accident or coincidence. Instead, they are telling of Hindi cinema’s push towards upending conventional notions of Indian masculinity and male sexual health.
It wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate to say that this reckoning has been a long time coming for the Hindi film industry. For Kumud Mishra, who essayed the titular Dr Arora in the show, the challenge in doing the role lay more in shedding his own inhibitions. To play a sexologist on screen and make it look believable meant that Mishra would first need to “understand the fear of social judgement that anyone who publicly talks about their sex life is bound to face”. On its part, the show doesn’t shy away from tackling the whole gamut of male sexuality, right from impotence, sex addiction and masturbation to erectile dysfunction. Similarly, Thai Massage, with Gajraj Rao in the lead, underlines the societal pressure that prevents men suffering from erectile dysfunction from getting the help they need.
In a way, the origin of this revolution was perhaps Shoojit Sircar’s 2012 film, Vicky Donor. Sexual dysfunction was at the centre of this coming-of-age narrative, but, more importantly, the film’s comedic handling of a taboo topic sufficiently warmed up Indian audiences’ appetite for a more direct confrontation with matters related to sexual health. Five years later, R.S. Prasanna’s Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017), a Hindi remake of his 2013 Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Saadham, brought hushed conversations around erectile dysfunction into public view.
When writer Hitesh Kewalya was approached for the project, he knew he could do something memorable with the material. For one, Kewalya didn’t wish to use the words ‘erectile dysfunction’ in the film. Second, he wanted to frame it as a romantic comedy, which “would be easily ap
proachable for family audiences”. Even producer Himanshu Sharma saw the film as an opportunity to build a franchise of movies. “The audience’s response to Shubh Mangal Saavdhan reinforced my belief that it was possible for it to become a great franchise that could talk about taboo topics,” says Sharma.
Today, sexual dysfunction can be seen as a distinct thread powering a range of shows and films such as Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur (2018—), or the Sonakshi Sinhastarrer Khandaani Shafakhana (2019). It’s indicative of not only a return to realistic, social issuedriven storytelling that most Hindi filmmakers find themselves leaning towards, but also of a society that is learning to separate shame from sex. ■