This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-9, 1981)
“Double Trouble ? Dharam, Shatru and Vinod Mehra reveal how they handle two women at a time-” This is how Star & Style, a popular film magazine, advertizes its latest issue— 25 years after bigamy was outlawed in India.
Of late, there has been a trend towards legitimizing and openly glorifying men’s polygamous relationships— both on the screen and in magazines which discuss the private lives of film stars. The old “gossipy” tone of unearthing film stars’ secret romances is now used more when women stars are involved, while male stars marrying two or more wives, is seen as a sign of their “liberal” thinking and “modernity.”…