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Get Your Sex Education On OTT

By DEEPA GAHLOT
October 12, 2023 13:04 IST
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Thank You For Coming recently discussed female desire and a 32-year-old woman's lack of an orgasm despite a vigorous sex life.

Quite a few Hindi films have taken up issues related with sex, and shone the torch on some pertinent issues.

Deepa Gahlot gives you Bollywood's guide to sex education on OTT.

 

OMG 2
Where to watch? Netflix

Kanti Mudgal (Pankaj Tripathi) is horrified when his son (Aarush Varma) is expelled from school for masturbating in the toilet.

With some help from a hippie (Akshay Kumar), who is Lord Shiva's messenger sent to help a devotee, Mudgal goes to court to demand sex education in schools, the lack of which allows innocent youngsters to be misguided by quacks.

He blames himself too, as a negligent father, and when he is in full flow, his opponent (Yami Gautam) has no chance of winning.

Amit Rai's film has started a discussion if nothing else, and anything that works to dispel hypocrisy and ignorance is a step in the right direction.

 

Chhatriwali
Where to watch? ZEE5

Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar's Chhatriwali is about chemistry graduate Sanya Dhingra (Rakul Preet Singh), who struggles to get a job in a small town and is forced to work as a quality control manager in a condom factory.

She tells her husband (Sumeet Vyas) and in-laws that she is employed in an umbrella factory.

Her in-laws' regressive attitude makes Sanya fly into activist mode, trying to get neighbourhood women to get their husbands to use condoms, and insisting to the school principal that he teach the kids about reproductive systems and sexual health.

Eventually, she gets through the fog of backward thinking.

 

Dr Arora: Gupt Rog Visheshagya
Where to watch? SonyLIV

In this series created by Imtiaz Ali, Vishesh Arora (Kumud Mishra) becomes a sexpert because as a young groom, he could not perform in bed and his wife left him.

In a society where people are shy about discussing sexual problems, he runs a thriving practice in three towns but cannot wipe out the air of sleaze associated with his profession.

The show could not decide whether it wanted to be a comedy or educational, but it did discuss issues like erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and everything in between.

 

Janhit Mein Jaari
Where to watch? ZEE5

In this dramedy directed by Jai Basantu Singh, Manokamna, (Nushrratt Bharuccha) has to take up a job as a condom salesperson, which she has to hide from her family and husband (Anud Singh Dhaka). The film starts light and then gets preachy.

Still, it raises some important points and encourages women to take charge of their own reproductive well-being, which is saying a lot in a largely orthodox society where women have so little power and almost none when it comes to contraceptive choices.

 

Helmet
Where to watch? ZEE5

In this comedy directed by Satram Ramani, Lucky (Aparshakti Khurana) and his friends steal from a delivery van, thinking it contains electronics.

But the cartons contain condoms, and the gang peddle them as a remedy for a satisfying sex life. But even when they are educating their town, they have to wear motorcycle helmets to hide their faces.

Still, their clandestine business sparks a revolution among the women.

 

Made In China
Where to watch? Netflix

This Mikhil Musale film does not work as a comedy but ticks some boxes as a film about sex education.

Raghu (Rajkummar Rao) fails at every business he tries but a visit to China and meeting a glib Gujarati (Paresh Rawal) entrepreneur, gives him the idea of selling an aphrodisiac called Magic Soup made of secret ingredients, including tiger penis, and solving the sexual problems of Indian men.

As Raghu goes about his research by meeting a range of quacks who sell all manner of panacea to desperate men, a whole vocabulary of euphemisms and gestures are used for sex, when a word or two would do, but it is also clear that unless a problem is discussed honestly, it cannot be solved.

 

Khandaani Shafakhana
Where to watch? Amazon Prime Video

In Shilpi Dasgupta's film, Sonakshi Sinha plays the fearless Babita 'Baby' Bedi, who takes over her uncle's (Kulbhshan Kharbanda) Family Health Clinic, which is a polite term for a sex clinic.

If the elderly man faced such disapproval from society, how could a young woman get away with it?

But the Bedi family -- mother (Nadira Babbar) and good-for-nothing brother (Varun Sharma) -- are in danger of being evicted from their home.

Baby's job as a medical rep does not earn enough, so she takes up the challenge.

Over time, she learns a lot and overcomes hurdles, dispensing sexual wisdom to desperate patients, including rap star Gabru Ghatack (Badshaah, in a scene-stealing role), who visits the clinic under the cover of darkness to protect his image.

 

Badhaai Ho
Where to watch? Disney+ Hotstar

Films are usually coy about the sexual needs of middle-aged couples.

It is as if once they have had kids, they have to forgo action in the bedroom.

In this film, directed by Amit Ravinderath Sharma, homemaker Neena Gupta, at near menopausal age, gets pregnant. Her husband (Gajraj Rao) is shocked, her older son (Ayushmann Khurrana) is appalled and the neighbourhood scandalised.

The success of this film must have taught the Indian audience that intimacy has nothing to do with age.

 

Shubh Mangal Savdhan
Where to watch? Jio Cinema

In a remake of his Tamil film, Kalyana Samayal Savdhan, R S Prasanna casts Ayushmann Khurrana, who is always up for offbeat roles, as a young man suffering from erectile dysfunction, which affects his marriage to his girlfriend (Bhumi Pednekar).

Charlatans and dubious sexperts have been taking advantage of the embarrassment and insecurity associated with the problem.

Khurrana playing the part must have reassured a lot of unhappy couples that this a medical matter than can, in most cases, be cured.

 

Vicky Donor
Where to watch? Jio Cinema

In a populous country, infertility can be traumatic for couples.

Dr Chaddha (Annu Kapoor) helps them by organising secret sperm donations, and Vicky (Ayushmann Khurana) is his star donor.

The treatment of this Shoojit Sircar film was flippant, but by discussing the issue openly, it reduced the shame and furtiveness associated with sperm banks.

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DEEPA GAHLOT