It's impossible to refute the fact that Bollywood has a huge audience and, therefore, a lot of influence. But, that reach and influence have, in some ways, led to us living in a society where rape culture has been normalized to an alarming extent. Yes, Bollywood isn't entirely to be blamed for this, but the industry still has a huge part to play in it. From cracking rape 'jokes' to making stalking look like love, here's how Bollywood has normalised rape culture over the years.   

Passing off dialogues like the balatkar speech from 3 Idiots as jokes.

Rape jokes are not funny. They are not even jokes. It's a pity that we're still trying to explain this to Bollywood.    

Love advice like "che din, ladki in" from Kal Ho Naa Ho.

Bollywood has been terrible at giving relationship advice, so much so that we can write an entire book on how one should never crush on our male leads.  

Making stalking look like a meet-cute.

There's no excuse for the blatant stalking that Bollywood passes off as a romantic meet-cute. Stalking is illegal, perpetrates rape culture, and WRONG.    

Our heroes can't take 'no' for an answer.

If a girl doesn't like you, that doesn't mean you have to keep pestering her. Even an entitled male character (who the audience is supposed to root for, BTW) should be able to get that. 

The derogatory lyrics.

"Beedi peeke nukkad pe wait tera kiya re/ Khali-peeli 18 cup chai bhi toh piya re/ Raja beta banke maine jab sharafat dikhayi .../ Acchi baatein kar li bohot/ Ab karunga tere saath/ Gandi baat…" When everyone, including children, hums these songs, lyricists should perhaps be a little more careful about what they're writing. 

'Item' numbers.

Objectification reaches a whole new level when we start calling people who dance an 'item.' Not to forget the absolutely unnecessary over-sexualisation of the dancers. Showing women off like pieces of meat is not okay, Bollywood. Just stop! 

The 'tumhaare ghar mei maa-behen nahi hai kya' attitude.

Harassing anyone is wrong. If the woman being harassed isn't someone's mother, sister, aunt, wife, or daughter, it still isn't okay to harass her. 

The non-consensual kissing trope used to shut women up.

When a woman, or anyone, talks, the decent thing to do is to listen to them. But, if that's too much to ask, just leave the conversation. Don't shut her up up with a kiss. Her anger is not a sign of desire, and kissing someone without their consent is not cute or romantic.

The idea of a 'good' girl.

The 'good' girl in Bollywood gets the guy, the family, and happiness, but the 'bad' girl doesn't because she parties and drinks. It is not okay to generalize and label people, and there are no 'good' or 'bad' girls in the real world.  

The representation of male rape.

Rape is not sex, even if men are at the receiving end of it. On screen, male rape is generally shown as a joke, or with a distasteful angle of homophobia. Violation of any kind, needless to say, is not okay. 

You need to do better, Bollywood!

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