Blame it on the season that we even feel kindly towards that corny Anu Malik ditty, that goes, ‘Dekho baarish ho rahi hai, it’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining…’ Our tempers reached a feverish pitch all through the maddeningly muggy heat of summer. And then the clouds delivered on their promise, bringing freshness, coolness, greenness and yes, love-ness, as Hindi films have taught us over the decades!
It’s the time when all good folks rush to get back to their warm, dry homes, leaving the dreamers and the lovers to revel under the showers, flaunting their love like a banner in the wind.
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Rain apparently has a most aphrodisiacal effect on the libido. Raj Kapoor and Nargis threw caution to the winds by openly sharing an umbrella and pledging to live their life together in ‘Pyar hua ikrar hua…’ (Shree 420). It was a daring step for the young lovers in the orthodox Fifties, as they tentatively embarked on love’s path: Kehta hai dil rasta mushkil, maloom nahin hai kahan manzil…
Cut to circa 2013 and a new pair set a new idiom of romance. The pretty pair of Aashiqui 2 have had a spat. She storms off in anger, he follows her to stop her. Their eyes lock, the rain is pouring down in sheets. The anger is gone, replaced by another intense feeling. He shrugs off his jacket to drape it gently over her head, pulling it over his as well… locking themselves in a cocoon of intimacy. For these lovers too, the road will not be easy, but at that minute, life is perfectly magical.
Intimacy can ensue without a finger needed to be laid on the other… Watch Kishore Kumar and Madhubala in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi (1958) create some lively chemistry even from a distance. He sings mischievously as he repairs her car in his garage, of the ladki bheegi bhaagi si, as she dries off behind a car. There is definitely something cooking here…
Of course, if we’re talking full boil, you can’t get hotter than Raveena Tandon and Akshay Kumar cavorting to ‘Tip tip barsa pani…’ (Mohra, 1994). With raunchy moves matched by hungry expressions, the pair steam up the screen with their energetic romping in the rain. Her flame-hued sari sets the tone for passion in what has become something of a cult classic. And we suddenly understand the meaning of the line ‘Paani mein aag lagayi…’!
Naturally it is as the rain comes down in torrents that ‘just friends’ Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) realise that Kuch Kuch Hota Hai indeed between them… The realisation, on his part, comes after his marriage to his college sweetheart, her demise and fatherhood. They share a romantic wordless dance in the gazebo as the heavens pour and the chemistry crackles. But she has to break off and flee… the ring on her finger, a reminder of her promise to marry her fiancé, Aman (Salman Khan)…
The rains bring out the latent desire in Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol), a blind Kashmiri woman who travels for the first time with a dance group to New Delhi to perform at a ceremony for Republic Day. She is seduced by the charming, flirtatious tour guide Rehan Khan (Aamir Khan), and in typical Hindi film style, things go awry in Fanaa (2006) after a night drenched in passion.
Whether it’s the lovers (Sushant Singh Rajput, Vaani Kapoor) in Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) or the loved up pair in Saawariya (Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, 2000), the showers invariably trigger their outpouring of emotions. With the magical drops tapping on your window, it’s time to throw caution to the winds – like Aamir tosses away Kajol’s dupatta in Fanaa – and let the feelings flow!
