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The item girls a la Mallika Shera-wat did not invent the kiss. Kissing has been part of the Bollywood tradition for several decades. Kissing in Bollywood goes back a long way. But they were kisses with a difference. They were tender kisses. They were tentative kisses. They were poignant kisses. They were loving kisses. They were not meant to tease or titillate. The golden oldies of Bollywood prided themselves on their histrionic skills. And did not measure the success of their careers by the number and the length of their kisses. Goan Observer takes you down cinematic memory lane to bring you kisses from an era gone by. Kisses between Dharmendra and Hema Malini. And extra chaste no-direct-contact-with-lips-please by Kamal Hassan. The passionate kiss by Anil Kapoor, the tender romantic kiss between Rishi Kapoor and Dimple in Bobby. And a torrid kiss by the gangster’s maul Monica Bedi now facing extradition from Portugal in one of a few films featuring the then hunk Monish Behl. What is charming about thess kisses is that they were part of the theme of the films and were not intended to be the USP of the film. Kissing, contrary to what the puritans might claim, is very much part of the Indian tradition. The Kamasutra devoted several chapters to the art of kissing. So did the Anga Shastra, another classic on romance and the act of courtship. But the fact remains that kissing is not a part of courtship in India. Not even in Catholic Goa. The kiss is not one of the legacies that the Goans inherited from the Portuguese. In fact I recall that when I was the editor of Mirror, the poor man’s readers Digest, in the seventies I used to get letters from young readers from several small towns including Goa anxiously inquiring if a girl could get pregnant if she was kissed on the cheek. Chuma Do is more to do with kissing on the cheek than the full bloodied kiss in the Indian milieu. The kiss and the locking of lips passionately is more of a western tradition. The kiss is the first stage in a romance. And kissing is not all that easy. The nose can get in the way. Women do not like to be slavered over and the whole face filled with saliva in the act of kissing. But do not despair. Along with starry kisses we also bring you a guide to kissing. The dos and the don’ts. And the way various kisses from the octopus kiss to the El Nino kiss. The El Nino for the unenunciated is a meteorological expression which has a major bearing on the weather. Including the climate for romance. What is a kiss? There are as many definitions as there are cultures and civilisations. To the eskimos kissing means rubbing of the noses. To the great lexicography Samuel Johnson the kiss is the anatomical juxtaposition of two orbicular oris muscles in a state of contraction. The most popular and widely prevalent form of kissing in Amchem Goem is the air kiss. In high society parties everyone is air kissing everyone else. The sophisticated air kisses don’t actually make contact but merely brushe the air around the cheek. So kiss by all means. But remember never kiss and tell. That is the ultimate betrayal.
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