How these 5 stories normalised conversations about sex education In India
OMG 2
In OMG 2, Kanti Sharan Mudgal (Pankaj Tripathi), a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, stumbles across a major problem when his son is accused of an obscene act in the school washroom and is caught in the storm of a major scandal. Mudgal realises that this situation has been caused by ignorance and the lack of sex education. He sues the school, and campaigns for the inclusion of sex education in academic syllabi. What follows is an enlightening courtroom drama that reveals both the prejudices of society and also the knowledge gaps that torment the young.
The film stars Akshay Kumar, Yami Gautam, Pankaj Tripathi, and Aarush Varma. Directed by Amit Rai, OMG 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
Chhatriwali
Rakul Preet Singh plays a committed sex education teacher, who goes to great lengths to break social taboos around the subject in Chhatriwali. In the film, her character attempts to educate people about safe sex and the importance of contraceptives. Directed by Tejas Deoskar, the film also stars Sumeet Vyas, Satish Kaushik, Riva Arora, Dolly Ahluwalia and Rajesh Tailang.
Watch the film on ZEE5.
Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon
This widely watched edutainment series explores family planning methods, domestic violence, child marriage, unplanned pregnancies, and various dilemmas faced by adolescents. Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon aired three seasons on Doordarshan and recorded an impressive viewership of 150 million individuals. It then went on to be telecast in West Asia, the Far East, Canada, and Europe.
The show stars Vaibhavi Hankare, Meinal Vaishnav, Dadhey Pandey, Neelima and Vikrant Rai. Watch the Feroz Abbas Khan directorial on YouTube.
Made in China
On the surface, Made In China appears to be a quirky comedy but dig deeper and this Mikhil Musale directorial talks about how sex education need not become a taboo topic. The film begins with Raghuveer Mehta (Rajkummar Rao), failing to make a success of his life but then shows how he eventually goes on to become the owner of a chain of sexual health-related clinics. The message audiences can glean from the story is that sex education is needed by all age groups.
The comedy also stars Mouni Roy and Boman Irani. Watch it on Jio Cinema.
Janhit Main Jaari
It is not easy to broach subjects like bodily agency, safe sex and abortion in a mainstream film but Janhit Main Jaari does exactly this. Manokamna Tripathi AKA Manu (Nushrratt Bharuccha), is a small-town girl who works as a sales representative at a local condom-making company. She battles many prejudices to win respectability for her job and eventually gets married to Ranjan (Anud Singh Dhaka). However, hell breaks loose when her in-laws come to know about her job. How she strikes a balance between what she must do and what her family expects of her, makes for a riveting watch.
Directed by Jai Basantu Singh, the film addresses many serious issues with forthright simplicity. The film also stars Vijay Raaz, Tinnu Anand, Ishan Mishra, and Paritosh Tripathi. Watch it on ZEE5.
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