Archive · 19 Sep 2026
Lust Stories 3 Reframes Bollywood’s Display of Male Bodies
The article says Bollywood has often shown men’s bodies to make them look powerful and attractive.
Older films frequently showed heroes removing their shirts or flexing their muscles.
In Lust Stories 3, Siddharth’s character is shown as someone his wife desires.
This is a gentler version of showing off a man’s body, but the author still considers it objectification.
Objectification means treating a person more like a product than a whole human being.
The article says films often present masculinity as muscles, dominance, violence, or sexual appeal.
It compares this with ordinary male characters who work, worry, fall in love, and struggle with everyday life.
The author believes Bollywood should make room for both kinds of men.
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Lust Stories 3 presents Siddharth’s character Badru as an object of desire for his wife, Saira.
The article contrasts Badru’s relatively understated physique with Bollywood’s earlier displays of muscular stars such as Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and John Abraham.
It argues that male bodies are increasingly objectified in Hindi cinema, even when the presentation is less aggressive or traditionally macho.
The author says Bollywood still often links masculinity to being muscular, sexually desirable, violent, or dominant.
The article calls for more ordinary, vulnerable, insecure, funny, tired, and average-looking men in Hindi films.
- Who
- Siddharth’s character Badru, his wife Saira, and Hindi-film actors whose bodies have been displayed on screen.
- What
- An opinion article examines how Lust Stories 3 and earlier Bollywood films portray and objectify male bodies.
- When
- The article discusses films released from 1974 through Lust Stories 3; no specific publication date is provided.
- Where
- Bollywood and Hindi cinema.
- Why
- The author argues that male-body display can narrow ideas of masculinity and leave little room for ordinary, vulnerable, or average-looking men.
Less Aggressive Representation
Continued Objectification
How Lust Stories 3 presents the male body
Less Aggressive Representation
Badru’s toned body is shown through Saira’s desire rather than as an overt symbol of dominance or conquest.
Continued Objectification
The body is still presented as a product and a visual selling point, so the underlying objectification remains.
Ideas of masculinity in Bollywood
Less Aggressive Representation
Recent films may be moving away from the heavily muscular, always-pumped-up image associated with earlier heroes.
Continued Objectification
Hindi cinema still often defines men through muscles, sexual desirability, violence, or dominance instead of allowing them to be ordinary and vulnerable.
- Film discussed
- Lust Stories 3
- Director discussed
- Vishal Bhardwaj
- Character examined
- Badru, played by Siddharth
- Character’s wife
- Saira, played by Aditi Rao Hydari
- Earlier examples
- Yalgaar, Maine Pyar Kiya, Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, and Dostana
- Central argument
- Showing male bodies as objects of desire can still be objectification, even when it is less aggressive.
- Author’s recommendation
- Hindi cinema should create more space for ordinary and vulnerable men.