Bipasha Basu and Bobby Deol romance in the rains for the film Barsaat.

Bollywood films have come a long, long way since the days of Raj Kapoor. Actors today are more than willing to display erotic zones of their shapely bodies without any ado and audiences are dying to see more and more. Even middle class moralists are not able to stem the tide of exposure in Bollywood films where a bold exhibition of female - and increasingly male bodies - is made to draw eyeballs to the screen. Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Esha Deol and the queen of them all Mallika Sherawat, have given an almost new definition to the shapely female body by exposing as much as decency would permit in almost all their films. Still, drenching them further in rain or water continues in several films. And usually, this is done with a rain song in the background. Some more recent hit films where rain songs were used are: 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' where Kajol dances in the rain in a short white (almost transparent) skirt; Sonali Bendre and Aamir Khan frolic in a waterfall in Sarfarosh; Bipasha Basu appeared out of the sea in a stunning entry in Jism and now she and Bobby Deol are seen smooching in rain in Barsaat.

In this film, he used the sexuality of Zeenat to the fullest and made her stand under a waterfall to outline her nubile body. He also demanded that his new find Mandakini show her bosom in the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili by creating a scene in which she was seen feeding her infant. Mandakini also went through the wet sensuality routine.

There was a time in Bollywood films when exposure of women's bodies was not completely acceptable. What could directors do to jump over this hurdle? They resorted to putting their heroines under waterfalls or made them sing and dance in the rain to create an attractive illusion of nudity or sexy exposure of their assets to attract audiences to their films. One of the earliest films in this genre was Brahmachari made in the 30s, which starred Meenakshi Shirodkar, a Maharashtrian actress - the grandmother of actors Namrata and Shilpa Shirodkar. She was the first actress to wear a swimsuit in a pool, inviting her lover to play games 'in the Yamuna' to invoke images of Krishna playing erotic games with the gopis in the River Yamuna

For millenniums, rain has been the central theme of the romance literature of India. Long before Bollywood conquered the mindspace of Indians, songs of the love play of Krishna and Radha in the Yamuna and in the rain were sung by classical and folk singers all over India. India's economy depended forever on the coming of the Monsoon on time and the amount of rainfall received by various parts of the country for ensuring the production of enough food and water for the huge population. Even in today's age of the wonders of science and technology, the Monsoon continues to rule the Indian subcontinent firmly with its moist and water-filled hands. If there is no rain, the shadow of famine and water shortages haunts the nation. If there is too much rain, as in the past few days, there are floods and unimaginable damage to life and property. Also, it is still a pattern of rural life that men who are away on business or travel during the dry months of the year, come home to sow the harvests just before the Monsoon and their women wait eagerly for this romantic reunion after months of separation. This theme too runs through folk and semi classical songs and dances in India.

Millions of classical and folksongs immortalize the month of 'Shravan' or the more folksy 'Sawan' - with its rain-laden blue clouds, green landscape and jhoolas hanging from huge trees. It is possible that this underlying current of cultural motifs makes Bollywood directors resort to the rain and romance theme in their films. It is also possible that Indian audiences, when given a visual feast with lovers smooching under torrential rain, relate to some unknown, but definitely evocative nostalgia in which they see rain as the ultimate protagonist of romance!