And we thought all that Lalita Pawar could do was to be the quintessential vamp of the masaledaar Hindi movies: the shrieking-like-a-banshee thing that made us recoil in horror in uncomfortable cinema halls of newly-independent India.

Wrong. She was the first Indian woman ever to reveal a bra — made of zari yes, but it was nevertheless a bra — on screen. In 1935’s Lord of the Jungle (Himmat-e-Marda) she was slender and beautiful in that bra. Given that Lalita Pawar was an Indian woman in conservative India, yet to be unshackled from colonial rule, the move was very bold, and it probably went unnoticed because of the lack of media penetration in pre-Independent India.

the ’50s: Nutan

It took another 20 years for a mainstream Indian actress to break the bra/ bikini/ swimsuit barrier. Glowing in the aftermath of Independence, with Bombay emerging as the money master of the country, Nutan, with her sweet and coy smile, dared to wear a swimsuit in 1958 in Dilli Ka Thug. It’s another matter that the swimsuit was as modest as a swimsuit has ever been in its history; in effect the swimming costume hardly revealed any skin below her shoulders, all it did was to emphasise her slender curves by being a second skin in black against her fair complexion. Vyjayanthimala soon followed Nutan in donning a swimsuit for Sangam (1964), but that the camera did everything it could to hide rather than reveal.

the ’60s: Sharmila tagore

Another decade later, the Bengalis-in-Bombay combo had hit its crescendo. They were leading the pack wherever you looked, whether it was music, scripting, singing, acting or directing. In such heady times, in walked a nubile nymphet of the liberal Tagore family who not just wore the bikini but also posed in it for a magazine cover in the ’60s. That was a milestone indeed. The bikini was itsy and bitsy and Sharmila was no sharmilee in it. She looked right into the camera and catapulted India into the league of sexy societies.

 

the ’60s: Bindu

In the meantime, for every classy Sharmila, there was a rakish Bindu: in her absolutely conical bras that were lined with stiff buckram and held in place by seams in concentric circles, Bindu was taking forward what Helen the cabaret queen had patented. These bras were always worn with sheer fabrics so as to maximise the effect of what Indian men dreamt of but never saw in those days of a licence raj-ridden, tight-fisted and insecure India.

 

the ’70s: Zeenat and Parveen

In the Seventies, a new-found confidence seeped through to the new breed of sex sirens who exposed and how! Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi, especially in Qurbani and Yeh Nazdeekiyan, were our initial response to the Bond babes. And I really liked them. So real with their bikinis and so Indian too, these women pushed the dice forward. Beaches and swimming pools became a staple in mainstream Hindi films. Little by little, India was opening up alongside its women. Our own desi Bond babes started emerging, not just from the seas, but also onto mainstream screens across the country.

 

the ’80s: SAME OLD

The ’80s were surprisingly bland. The Indian economy was stagnating and nothing seemed to be moving. In the filmi world too, Poonam Dhillon, Kimi Katkar (left), Tina Munim and even Sridevi showed no verve; they seemed happy repeating what had been experimented with in the earlier decades. Coyness reigned in all its artificiality; in retrospect it was the calm before the storm, of the years that were to follow.

 

post-’90s: Kareena kapoor & Priyanka chopra

Finally, the Nineties and beyond ushered in liberalisation, the full impact of which has unravelled in the years that have followed. A beach scene is no more mandatory for a bikini top. Look at Kareena Kapoor in Tashan and Priyanka Chopra in Dostana and you’ll know that we really hang loose now. At least on this count, India learnt how to be shining.

 

and now: Deepika padukone

Gaping at Deepika Padukone in Cocktail, I wondered what this trend signalled. Was it a shrinking of the sense of propriety of yore? Was it something more than that? With parts of the undergarment visible in almost everything she wore in Cocktail, the cake was really taken by the grand finale where Deepi dear dons the cherry bra that doubles as a bikini. Even the underwire cut of it is that of a bra. So, in yet another magical transformation, our films have effectively blurred the lines between bras and bikinis!

Loose may be the way of the world, but we needn’t be lost, do we? I say this because of the amazing title of a recent indie film that I’ve come across: Visible Bra Straps.

Good Lord!

Which Bolly actress has looked best in a bikini? Tell t2@abp.in