Platonic friendships in Bollywood movies - Page 2

Maybe Amitabh and Parveen in Suhaag. He helps her unite with Shashi Kapoor. Amitabh and Reena in Naseeb. They are friends and have no romantic feelings for each other.

Saeed Jaffery and Beena in Afsana Pyar ka. Salman and Madhuri in Hum tumhare hain sanam.

I cannot think of more.

Usually Indian films show men and women as mostly lovers or atleast one side has romantic feelings. Indians themselves also tend to see men and women as mostly sexual beings or with suspicion and often even mistake siblings or cousins for lovers if they are not aware that boy and girl are siblings. Or see men and women are probably siblings or teacher and student or doctor and patient at the most. Not even as well wishers.

I would add Jackie Shroff and Madhuri in Parinda and Ram Lakhan, as he already sees her as potential sister in law and knows brother likes her.

Shekhar Suman and Sangita Bijlani in Tridev could also be platonic friends as they work together to expose Amrish Puri and his men, have common cause of revenge.

Can't think of more since desi films drag romantic angle somewhere anyhow.

I don’t think except for Hun Tumhare hain Sanam there’s any other movie where the leads are great friends and yet they dont share any romantic feelings.

Even if you are able to find any such movie,they just have few such scenes here and there.It’s not like full fledged ones.

Originally posted by: FilmiDhun

You will rack your brains and still not find mutually platonic relationships between heterosexual characters both of whom are the leads in the movie.

It's either:

They are friends but one person harbors romantic feelings (SRK-Karishma DTPH)

One is the lead character and he/she has a side character friend (Naina-Avi YJHD).

Two hot leads who are just friends? Nope. Have not seen.

Yes, I was struggling to come up with good friendships in Bollywood for this very factor. I could overlook one-sided feelings, but the friendships portrayed are so tepid and blah. They lack any sort of genuine emotional bond or connection.

I think Rahul and Anjali in the initial part of KKHH were a really fun pair of friends. But there was all the melodrama with Anjali's one-sided love and their eventual romance. There was so much potential for that friendship outside the heartbreak and romance route.

Originally posted by: Grumpydwarf24

Is it possible in real life? They say one side normally has romantic feelings without the other ever finding out.

I'm bisexual. My best friend is a lesbian. I'm her daughter's godparent. There are things we bond and connect over that she cannot with her wife, like our immigrant heritage, a shared love for funky fermented foods that have acquired tastes, being raised by strict parents, love for Taylor Swift, etc. We will do road trips or vacations together every few years. Her wife and I are on great terms. She treats me like part of the family. There is no jealousy or drama or that bullshit.

Two of my other closest friends are guys. One of them has a smoking room in his house. Sometimes we hang out there for hours together there, while his wife does things around the house. No big deal; we're talking mostly about Axis and Allies strategy, Dungeons and Dragons, scenic train routes, and that sort of thing.

I won't claim that we're hot or something, but we're average people with average attractiveness. And it is completely normal to have close platonic friendships. Just because you're attracted to a gender doesn't mean you will be attracted to every single member of that gender or that you cannot have meaningful platonic friendships.

I have also known gay men, some of who I've considered super hot, who have been roommates or best friends. Queer folks often have close-knit platonic friend groups as well. And some are ridiculously hot. Straight women also hang out with ridiculously hot gay men as friends. They may find them attractive or even have a crush. But the friendship stands out and lasts.

But for some reason, straight men and straight women struggle to have friendships in the real world. It is either marred by one person's unrequited attraction, or their significant others find it too weird and are exceptionally jealous. Society also assumes that straight men and women hanging out has to be more than friendship. Two lesbians or two gay dudes who are dog-tired will not think twice about crashing on the same twin bed. There is nothing to think twice over. But two straight men or a heterosexual pair will hem and haw about the sleeping arrangements.

This is why sometimes we say "are the straights ok?" Seems like straight people tend to be hung up on a lot of things.

It is rare that men and women are friends in real life. But it is not impossible. It can actually be a good and healthy thing to share friendship and get perspectives with people who are different from you. From my observation - the more conservative society and individuals - the rarer opposite gender friendship; consequently - the more liberal society and individuals - the more possible opposite gender friendships are.

Your described scenario is not imaginable in India and would be rare to find even in bigger cities like Mumbai or Kolkata where there are likely to be more liberal people.

Indian films and serials have drilled notion further that women and men can only have sexual relations or like fatherly, motherly or daughter/son like or sibling style relations.

They even made films like Gunaah were female cop falls for a male prisoner or they have sex or sexual fantasies for each other.

Rather Indian films have always pushed notion that man and woman eventually have to be linked sexually. Like Sunny Deol is linked to his own bhabhi in Ghayal and she commits suicide out of sheer shame at this insinuation.

It hurts how Indian shows and films always drag sex or romance everywhere and Indians in general also link men and women so much so that even in real life, siblings, uncles or aunts or nephews, nieces or male teacher or student or coach and trainee hesitate to sit or be seen together or talk, lest they get linked or gossiped about or 'accused of' something.

Desi society is perverse that way.

Originally posted by: atominis

... Desi society is perverse that way.

I won't say "perverse" but rather messed up.

Why do you think, it is like that?

Aamir and Kajol in Ishq?

Salman ans Madhuri in Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam

Saif and Sonali Hum Saath Saath Hain (before she married his brother)

If the girl is romantically involved with the guy's close friend or brother, there isn't really any scope for romance. Not sure how why of these examples fit the initial questions.

On the other end, friendships are platonic, so not sure what the question is anyway.

What about chunni babu and chandramukhi?

I got platonic vibes from them 2 in SLBs devdas. Although I am not naive to believe a courtesan is allowed platonic male friends ...

I do not know. But I feel shocked, angry and irritated how they sexualise everything and view women as mostly sexual beings.

Most of these ghunghat, purdah and symbols were also invented to sort of put women in boundaries. And even today in urban areas too we have people judging women for not wearing dupatta or covering head or wearing make up or not being married by certain age or judging her for being online or roaming outside alone or talking or laughing freely.

Or assuming relation without knowing who a man or woman are with.

It is disgusting. They also keep telling families to keep females in control.

I mean we have seen lows. People even try to link female student or employee to teacher or boss and assume female achieved something through affairs or sexual favours.

They pretend to have culture but not without reason this country is one of most populated in the world. Weird lust driven mindset.