The love story as resistance

A TV show and a book provide an alternative narrative for couples seeking the autonomy to love in India

- Shrabonti Bagchi

Love is so hazardous and so political in the India of today that the prospect of a lion named "Akbar" being mated with a lioness called "Sita" is enough to cause a meltdown. Policing love is not new in India Bollywood's entire oeuvre would be halved if you took away stories about love being opposed and censored-but what was once done by families alone is now also the State's concern. Just this month, the Uttarakhand assembly made it mandatory for couples to register live-in relationships.

In 2023, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that his government would examine the viability of making parental approval for love marriages compulsory.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance (2020) effectively polices inter-religious marriages a prime example of the State boldly entering the realm of conspiracy theorists.