“You’re going to stay with your boyfriend?!!!!”, that’s what Farida Jalal would have probably told Kajol, had Simran decided to live in with Raj in DDLJ. But the ‘sanskaar’ quotient was at an all time high, so that action by Simran would have led to parents shrieking in their homes.
The 90’s were also dominated by Rajshri films like Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain, celebrating the fam-jam, including Tuffy of course. No option but to ‘live-in’ with the entire parivar.
Also the problem most parents have with a live-in relationship which was also reflective in the movies was- is my son/daughter having sex? Sexuality has been a very repressed topic in India, and hence the hesitation to explore it in the movies. “Shaadi kara do (get them married),” an elder in the family would say, in both reel and real lives.
The premise of Luka Chuppi starring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon, revolves around a couple trying to hide the fact that they are in a live-in relationship from their respective parents. Before it’s release we look at some of the Hindi movies that have explored live-in relationships,
1. Salaam Namaste (2005)
In 2005, a couple living with each other because they were in love but didn’t want to marry because it seemed inconvenient, may have seemed radical to many. But the Saif Ali Khan- Preity Zinta starrer found takers in youngsters, who probably saw something that actually reflected their sentiments. You can’t always be sure and serious about your relationship, and might be afraid to commit in your youth. The film caught that sentiment perfectly and is still quite enjoyable.
2. Cocktail (2012)
In Cocktail Deepika Padukone candidly asks Saif Ali Khan, who she has been hooking up with to move in with her. The film made no fuss about the two of them living together, in what wasn't even a serious relationship. The film was criticised for it’s depiction of Deepika’s character Veronica, as this ‘westernised’ woman, and hence the character trait of being sexually liberated. But it was nice to see a couple just figure out whether they wanted to keep it casual or get serious.
3. Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)
Commitment phobia is a word thrown around by a lot of people, and the characters in Shuddh Desi Romance have just that. Both Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) and Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) are confused about what they want from life and who they want. This results in hasty decisions and heartache, but again representative of millennial confusion. The film was also set in a small town, to show us that ‘living-in’ isn’t just an urban phenomena, the world is truly changing. Parineeti Chopra was in particular praised for her performance in the film.
4. OK Jaanu (2017)
One of the nicest things in the otherwise lacklustre OK Jaanu was the fact that when the two protagonists in a relationship, decide to move in with each other and find themselves a very progressive landlord. The elderly couple doesn't make a fuss about them staying together. The Aditya Roy Kapur-Shraddha Kapoor starrer was a remake of the Tamil film O Kadhal Kanmani by Mani Ratnam. The Tamil version was praised for it’s realistic take of a young couple navigating their life, and while the Hindi version couldn’t match up to that there was no big hullaballoo about a couple living together without getting married.
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