Hema Malini & Parveen Babi Had A Suggestive ‘Subtle’ Lesbian Kiss & Relationship In A Film From 1983 & It Was Deleted Before Getting Aired On Doordarshan
Hema Malini & Parveen Babi had a subtle and suggestive lesbian romance in the 1983 film Razia Sultana, which was talk of the town. Read more.
Hema Malini & Parveen Babi Shattered Boundaries In 1983 With Their ‘Subtle’ Yet Path Breaking Lesbian Performance & A Suggestive Kiss (Photo Credit: IMDb)
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Bollywood has recently got bolder, getting over the same-s*x hysteria, and has started accepting films based on LGBTQ+. However, the undercurrents of same-s*x romance which were first boldly shown in Deepa Mehta’s 1996 film Fire which had bold scenes featuring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. On the other hand, 2019 saw the first full-fledged lesbian romance in a cleverly made film, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga. However, what if we tell you that the first such reference to a lesbian relationship was done in 1983 with Hema Malini’s Razia Sultan?
The film was a historical epic about the first female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. But the film is also notable for its exploration of lesbian relationships and probably the first-ever reference to some epic under-the-cover romance between the protagonist and her handmaiden.
If a box office disaster like Razia Sultana is still fresh in memories, then it has to be for Khayyam’s beautiful music, Hema Malini’s royal portrayal of Razia, and a daring moment with undertones of a passionate lesbian romance between her and Parveen Babi‘s character Khakun. Their romance or scenes between them sharing a moment of intimacy cleverly left to imagination drop in the film during a song – Khwab Ban Kar Koi Aayega.
The song has Parveen Babi caressing a Hema Malini to sleep, which might have inspired Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s scene between Khilji and his slave Malik Kafur, sharing intimate yet subtle flames of passion in the Padmaavat song Binte Dil, the characters, beautifully done by Ranveer Singh and Jim Sarbh.
The 1983 release of Razia Sultan saw Hema Malini romancing Dharmendra. However, her moments of intimate and passionate attraction towards her confidante Khakun, played by Parveen Babi, did not go unnoticed. Credit goes to director Kamal Amrohi for not letting these undercurrents of attraction between two women not die on screen.
The film played brilliantly exploring this subplot in the song Khwab Ban Kar Koi Aayega, which was crooned by Lata Mangeshkar but had suggestive lyrics done by Nisar Akhtar. As Khakun sings, she interestingly turns a s*xual drive for Razia to fantasize about Yakut, played by Dharmendra. A suggestive kiss is what follows next, and the scene is left to interpretations.
In Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s book, Hema Malini Beyond the Dream Girl, Vijayendra Ghatge, who played one of Razia’s suitors in the film, talked about this groundbreaking same s*x exploration by Kamal Amrohi. As quoted by Scroll, the actor said, “Well, there was a scene between Hema-ji and Parveen Babi, which had a hint of bis*xuality. After the film was released, the press and public did talk about this scene and I still remember that years later when the film was shown on Doordarshan, this particular scene, followed by a solo song sequence by Parveen Babi, was cropped. I really don’t know whether Razia was a lesbian or not. I guess Kamal saab would have been the right person to answer this question. But I would also like to say that both Hema-ji and Parveen did a fantastic job. It was aesthetically done. In a way, Hema-ji deserves kudos for having the guts to do that scene.”
Here is another still to the son shared on a Reddit page.
