I have already slightly touched upon this question (see article “What I like about Bollywood”), but I would like to come back to it because it is in fact quite an important question, and I think I now have a somewhat different perspective. The other day, I read a comment by Yash Chopra who said:

« The secret to Bollywood's worldwide appeal, says Yash, is that its films are "wholesome"—his favorite word. The Indian government has given him four national awards in the category of "Best Film for Providing Popular and Wholesome Entertainment." He won't allow kissing in his movies. "If a boy loves a girl in ," he says, "they feel shy of kissing in public." In most Bollywood films, if two lovers want to thwart an arranged marriage, they can't just elope; they have to win over the disapproving parents. In Veer-Zaara, the hero and heroine never even touch each other, except in a fantasy song sequence. » (link) 

In fact, there is a lot of hypocrisy here, or at least a certain naivety. As can be read here, “sex sells in Bollywood”, there’s no need to deny it and hide ourselves that the Hollywoodisation of Bollywood is on the go, especially on that score. It is true that we don’t have direct love scenes and that straight kissing is not (often) visible, but directors are responding to the public’s desire to see more. And if we can’t actually see the kissing and love-making that is hinted at, there is ample compensation in the shape of tight dresses, hot dancing, suggestive dialogue, etc. 

You’re going to tell me that a cinema whose first commodity is love is more or less obliged to pay attention to sex and to choose actors and actresses that are more alluring than not. I’d agree with that, and nobody in his right mind would refuse watching a beautiful person on screen. But I wonder whether the temptation to put the story to the service of those actors and actresses, rather than them to the service of the story, isn’t increasing. And whether the number of directors who resist that temptation is not dwindling. I have a strong feeling that all those young girls and boys that wish to get quick attention today will not have too many qualms showing what they have. And it doesn’t have to be Mallika Sherawat or Ayesha Takia.