A rainy day in Bollywood

Sex, violence, song or dance -- the monsoon serves multiple purposes in Hindi movies.

With the onset of the rains, it's the perfect occasion to highlight all the cool, crazy reasons Bollywood uses it as an excuse for.

Sukanya Verma highlights some filmi rainy days.

Love at first sight

Romance is a foregone conclusion when two people lay eyes on each other for the first time amidst a heavy downpour.

Throw in a cuppa of hot chai and something has brewed guaranteed.

 

Dancing in the rain

If raining, dance seems to be an unwritten rule.

It could be as hazardous as spinning around lampposts or as slippery as jumping in a muddy puddle.

 

Getting up, close and personal in a cave

We've lost count of the number of filmi couples who have a special talent for finding a cave to take shelter from a rainstorm.

 

Making hay while it rains

Or rolling on top of a pile of hay.

Regardless of what's easily available, the upshot is always the same -- hanky panky.

 

Fooling around on public property

Actors are known to lose their mind in the monsoon.

As if the caves and muddy puddles weren't enough that they also need to engage in PDA at the expense of public property.

 

Stage a dharna outside the lover's house

Guilt trip the hero/heroine into submission by weathering all the tip tip coming your way until they're forced to yield and reconsider their feelings about you.

 

Loudly singing outside your GF's house

Dumped or dejected, the Bollywood hero doesn't waste any time in creating a scene outside the gate of her apartment.

 

Playing outdoor games

No deluge can dampen Bollywood's playful spirit -- football, basketball, badminton, bring it on.

 

Promote chiffon

Chiffon is to rain songs what Switzerland is to Yash Chopra's romances -- indispensable.

 

Washing machine woes

One way or another the hero or heroine's clothes, often latter, will get wet and need to be dried off paving the way for sexy attire and steamy romance.

 

Dramatic face-off

The drama of rains is ideal for good versus bad face offs and Bollywood loves nothing more than spectacle.

 

Funeral scenes

Tears and raindrops go hand in hand.

Bollywood truly believes death is an occasion for drama whose impact is doubled by filming against a slickly shot downpour.

 

Symbolism

What better way to highlight a person's loneliness than let the drench to the bone in a crowd of umbrella-wielding passer-by's.

 

Spooky entries

Thunder, lightning, downpour, black cat, car breaking down, woman in white, brr.