India is not known for embracing lesbian themes in film, but a new Bollywood film by director Karan Razdan is making waves in India for including a lesbian relationship. Titled Shock, the film is about the elite class in India whose lives revolve around parties and gossip--including an unhappily married woman who gets involved in a lesbian relationship.

The unhappily married woman is played by Meghna Naidu, who shot to fame last year after a controversially seductive turn in a popular music video; it is not yet known who will play her lover. News of this new role is putting Naidu in the limelight once again, in part because in order to research her role, Naidu has spent time living with a lesbian couple.

"Talented actresses like Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das played characters with lesbian overtones in Deepa Mehta's Fire and I am proud to be doing the same," Naidu told the press in India. "It is an opportunity that I am not willing to let go, even if it means living with real-life homosexuals. I will bring authenticity to the film--of how lesbian women stay together and make love."

1996's Fire, the most recent Indian film to feature a lesbian relationship between two women, was enveloped in controversy when it opened in theatres in India. Banned in parts of India and marred by riots started by extremist groups protesting the film's lesbian content, the film received critical acclaim but did poorly at the box office.

Shock will include an explicit lesbian scene, but unlike Fire, the lesbian relationship is not the film's focus. "The story of the films is not about lesbians or alternative sexual preferences," Razdan insists. "Shock focuses on life in high society and what these people like and dislike. The lesbian scene is just a passing one and will be shown in a subtle manner. These things happen in society, don't they?"

Razdan has directed a few successful television soaps in India, and is currently filming a Hindi version of the hit U.S. movie Unfaithful, which will also star Naidu.

It's not yet clear whether Shock communicates support or disapproval of the lesbian relationship, although according to Razdan, the film is designed to "question people about today's morality." In light of what happened with Fire, however, it is financially risky for Shock to be anything but negative about lesbianism; even neutrality on the topic is likely to be interpreted as support for it. But Razdan's general willingness to take on controversial subjects in his films leave open the possibility that he will not let fear of a backlash deter him, and Naidu's comments at least indicate an intention to portray the relationship with honesty.

Regardless of its intent, when Shock hits theatres in India in a a year or two--almost ten years after Fire--how the film's lesbian content is received by moviegoers will surely be seen as a test of whether attitudes towards lesbianism have relaxed in India. And if it is successful, perhaps it will open the door for more Hindi films with lesbian themes and characters in the future.