To understand the radical nature of this shift, we must first acknowledge the shackles of the past. In classic Bollywood (1950s–1990s), the "other woman" or "other man" was a villain. They were a vamp or a schemer designed to test the purity of the central couple. Films like Kabhi Kabhie (1976) flirted with extramarital longing but pulled back into the safety of family values. Even in the 2000s, the "multiplex movie" (Salaam Namaste, Jhankaar Beats) used infidelity as a punchline or a moral lesson, rarely as an acceptable lifestyle.
The Production Code and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) historically frowned upon any depiction of marital infidelity that wasn't punished by the third act. An "open relationship" was a Western, decadent concept that had no place in the collective Indian psyche—at least, that was the assumption.
But the pandemic, the normalization of therapy, and the mainstreaming of queer narratives have shattered that assumption. Filmmakers like Zoya Akhtar, Shakun Batra, and Dibakar Banerjee have stopped asking "Will they end up together?" and started asking "What does together even mean?"
Arguably the most significant mainstream text on this subject is Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan. Starring Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Ananya Panday, the film is a psychological dissection of modern love. www bollywood open sex com
The Setup: Tia (Ananya) is the perfect, traditional bride-to-be. Alisha (Deepika) is her chaotic cousin, struggling with career failure and childhood trauma. When Alisha begins an affair with Tia’s fiancé, Zain (Siddhant), it isn't painted as villainy.
The Innovation: Gehraiyaan explicitly discusses the concept of "open relationships." Alisha asks Zain, “Why does love have to be a zero-sum game?” The film argues that you can genuinely love two people differently. Zain loves Tia for stability and social status, and Alisha for sexual and creative energy.
The Verdict: While the film’s climax resorted to thriller conventions (murder, betrayal), its middle act was revelatory. It normalized conversations about sexual needs, therapy, and the fact that monogamy is a choice, not an instinct. It remains the flagship title for Bollywood open relationships. To understand the radical nature of this shift,
No film in recent memory has polarized audiences quite like Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan. On the surface, it is a film about infidelity. But beneath the waves, it attempts (albeit clunkily) to explore the psychology of open relationships.
The film centers on Alisha (Deepika Padukone) and Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), both entangled with other partners. Batra introduces the concept of "consensual non-monogamy" through a throwaway line at a high-end party: "We have an arrangement." While the film ultimately punishes its characters with tragedy and guilt, Gehraiyaan broke the glass ceiling by normalizing the conversation. For the first time, a mainstream Bollywood film depicted:
Though critics panned the film for conflating cheating with polyamory, Gehraiyaan forced urban Indians to Google "relationship anarchy." Though critics panned the film for conflating cheating
While not explicitly about open relationships, Farhan Akhtar’s debut planted the flag. Akash (Aamir Khan) explicitly rejects the idea of getting married because "rules are meant to be broken." The film’s acceptance of Sid’s platonic, soul-deep love for an older woman (Tarun) suggested that love isn't a one-size-fits-all contract. It was the first major blockbuster to suggest that friendship might be the primary relationship, and romance secondary.
For young Indians navigating the grey areas of modern dating, Bollywood’s old binary (True Love vs. Cheating) is unhelpful. Real life is messier.
Bollywood has the power to destigmatize these conversations. Imagine a Dharma film where the third act conflict isn't a sautan (rival), but a mature conversation about boundaries. Imagine a happy ending where the couple doesn't get married, but decides to stay ethically non-monogamous.