The monsoons have knocked at our doors and the breezy weather has started to spell its magical charm. All of this pouring and drizzling takes us to a different world altogether. Monsoon is synonymous with heart-touching music and scenes from our favourite films that appeal to us in a way they never do during any other season. 

Bollywood has never shied away from experimenting with the season and has used it to its full potential, incorporating every emotion, from love to heartbreak.

Raj Kapoor and Nargis made rain synonym to expressing love with the iconic song ‘Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua’, in Shri 420. Time and again, rain has played the match-maker in classic Hindi films. From monochromatic ‘under the umbrella romance’ to a more contemporary confession of love ‘under the coat’ in Mohit Suri’s ‘Aashiqui 2’.  

While love does take a front seat when talking about the influence of rain in hindi cinema, there are times when the pouring played an aphrodisiac on screen. Remember Raveena Tandon in ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’? The song is still considered one of the most sensual rain numbers.
  

Kajol hid her one-sided love for Shah Rukh in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’s’ heartbreaking number ‘Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aayi’. While in the same film, the instrumental version of the title track, filmed under the rain, brings forth the years of affection between the lead.

Mira Nair’s film ‘Monsoon Wedding’, celebrates the marriage between rains with complexities of society’s greatest festival- a wedding. In recent times, Akshay Roy’s ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’ beautifully expresses the bittersweet feeling of an ailing heart, as Abhimanyu finally lets go of Bindu as they dance together with ‘Mana Ke Hum Yaar’ plays in the background. 

Saris, raincoats and umbrellas become the required props while bringing out the elements of rain on screen. Saris turn sheer in white or pastel, be it Madhubala in ‘Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si’ or Sridevi in ‘Chandni’ and ‘Chaalbaaz’. Scenes and songs are elevated with the rain even in coming of age films like ‘Wake Up Sid’.

The climax of the Ayan Mukerji’s film is an ode to dreamy rains of Mumbai and the subtle feeling of warmth they evoke on the sea-side. Something similar happens in Anurag Basu’s ‘Life in a Metro’ when the heart starts singing and the characters experience the tinge of warmth in their complex companionship as it pours outside. Well, rains are not always an emotion but sits as the central theme as well. In Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘Lagaan’, the lack of rain builds the central theme, while in films like ‘Tum Mile’ and Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kedarnath’, they wreak havoc, as the central characters find a way for their romance.

The relation between Bollywood films and rain has always been integral to the storyline. The pouring water throws the narrative into acceleration as it becomes an accompaniment or an obstacle to the course of action. Golden Age to the contemporary age, rain has and will always find a place in Hindi movies.