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For generations, Raksha Bandhan has been a cherished part of Hindi cinema. So this festival, which was celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm and was a time for families to come together in one place, was not only a bright scene and a great festival, but also a very important turning point in the brother-sister relationship, and the love, sacrifice, responsibility, and loyalty of family are in this story.
The image of a sister tying a rakhi around her brother’s wrist and a brother’s solemn promise to protect her at all costs was the emotional core of many films. These stories frequently had a mother attempting to hold the family together in a time of chaos and struggle as an emotional song rose in the air, singing about the bond with siblings. These were things that were very much a part of Bollywood storytelling and that formed a rich narrative fabric which was so very much appreciated by the audience.
However, today we could hardly expect this kind of cinematic tradition to still be at the forefront.
And though the festival of Raksha Bandhan itself has not been lost in Hindi films, just like other celebrations like Holi and Diwali are still around, films that are concerned with traditional family relationships— especially the brother-sister bond so closely tied to Raksha Bandhan— have become rare and much less common.
This change is part of a broader change in the cinema and of filmmakers’ perspective. Writers and directors say that the relationships depicted in Hindi cinema have evolved as a result of Indian society in line with contemporary lives and are now very much about the changing conditions and the complicated characters.
From Iconic Rakhi Songs to Modern Interpretations
Raksha Bandhan has long been associated with the era of family films in Hindi movies. Take "Chhoti Bahen" (1959) and "Bhaiyya Mere Rakhi Ke Bandhan Ko Nibhana," which are classics in which the brother-sister relationship is very much at the heart of the story, as are sibling love and duty.
The complex ties between siblings and festivals gave filmmakers lots of emotional storytelling opportunities over the decades. Songs celebrating the link between brothers and sisters quickly became etched in the cultural memory of Raksha Bandhan that would be passed down to subsequent generations.
But Hindi cinema has slowly turned urban in its culture, more in the form of individual aspirations, romance, action, crime and personal journeys, and the traditional family drama has begun to lose its place in narrative.
An example of this is Akshay Kumar’s “Raksha Bandhan” (2022), which was a direct attempt to put the brother-sister relationship back in the mainstream Hindi cinema. But the box office performance of the film raised questions about how mainstream family stories still hold even a fraction of the popularity they once commanded in the movie landscape.
A Changing Brother-Sister Equation
One of the reasons for the decreasing presence of traditional Rakhi stories is the changing portrayal of sibling dynamics. In earlier Bollywood films, the archetypal brother was usually seen as the unquestioned protector, while the sister was often portrayed as someone who needed saving. The emotional undercurrent of these stories was straightforward: a brother in the end is going to protect his sister, whatever the circumstances.
But today’s sibling relationships are more fair and balanced. Sanjay Masoom writes about the way this social change is shaping contemporary storytelling. In the stories we are hearing today, sisters are more often seen as independent and strong-willed, and they do not need to be rescued by their brothers.
The shift in the narrative style of Raksha Bandhan makes it more difficult to reproduce those familiar stories. What was once a common story of a brother seeking revenge for his sister now seems to be a long time ago. Female characters in today’s society are more likely to have agency, ambitions, and conflicts, providing the story with much more depth.
Although the sibling bond is still very important, the roles associated with it have certainly changed.
The Changing Face of the Indian Family
The evolution is not limited to the relationship between brothers and sisters but also the nature of the Indian family itself. Old Hindi movies often depicted huge joint families in which people from the family, siblings, cousins, and extended relatives were living together, and that was not always the case in the family itself. Festivals were always a good way of having everyone together, and family conflicts between people built the tension to move the story forward.
Mothers, in particular, were the emotional center of these stories and the emotional core of the story, both in their nurturing roles as well as the emotional attachment to their children. And in many cases, sibling relationships could shape the course of the movie itself.
On the other hand, modern urban life is different. Nuclear families are increasingly common— siblings live in far-off cities or countries all around the world, or they live in different cities. Now their relationships may be maintained through phone calls and text messages and sometimes visits instead of shared experiences in a bustling kitchen. As the reality of family dynamics in cinema movies has become more and more central in movies, the traditional family dramas have gradually disappeared from the picture.
Is Bollywood Only Showcasing Urban India?
A different view on this change is expressed by filmmaker Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, who notes that the decline of traditional family narratives in mainstream Bollywood doesn’t mean that the values of Bollywood have disappeared from the cultural landscape of India. The metropolitan experience in films does not represent the whole country, he says.
In some smaller towns and cities, family ties and traditions continue to thrive. Joint families, community celebrations and deeply rooted cultural relationships are still central to the daily lives of millions of Indians. This disparity presents a very significant issue of representation within the cinematic framework.
If mainstream Hindi cinema concentrates on urban stories, audiences will see less of the social traditions that still live on beyond the largest urban centres. The disappearance of Rakhi films may tell us a lot about Bollywood’s perspective on culture and the cultural shift that is taking place in India itself.
The Influence of Western and International Cinema
Adding to this rich mix of influences is the deep-rooted impact of international cinema on Indian filmmakers. Today, most Indian directors are influenced by a variety of storytelling methods from Korean, American, and Scandinavian cinema, and that is what has led to new genres, narrative structures, and storytelling methods in Indian cinema. But Chauhan raises an important question: can these international storytelling models adequately capture the intricate complexities of distinctly Indian family relationships? In the past, Hindi cinema mothers, siblings, and extended families were not just supporting characters but often the very bedrock of the whole narrative.
With filmmakers so obsessed with global cinematic trends, it’s possible that some unique Indian family stories might fall by the wayside, eclipsed by the influence of international influences.
The Box Office Dilemma
But there is also a commercial aspect that cannot be avoided. A filmmaker may be very passionate about a story that is about family, siblings, or tradition, but producers and studios must decide if people are prepared to pay to see it in the theater.
The case of “Raksha Bandhan” is one such example. The 2022 film attempted to put back the brother-sister relationship at the center of the story in its own right, but it wasn’t a commercial success. And as the film industry focuses on opening weekend numbers and big box office returns, such results reduce the chance that producers will pick up similar stories in the future.
However, a decline might not be permanent; it would need to be.
Could Rakhi Stories Make a Comeback?
Sanjay Masoom sees the current state of Hindi cinema as part of a cyclical pattern. From the beginning of time, genres and themes have evolved and developed based on social changes and audience preferences.
Family-oriented films are not extinct. In fact, recent success in Indian cinema has shown that emotional stories still play a significant role in many contemporary lives, with characters who are relatable and there’s an atmosphere that is very much in line with the lived experience.
If Raksha Bandhan stories are to make a comeback in Bollywood, they are unlikely to follow the formulas of their forebears. The story could evolve to reflect a more nuanced understanding of sibling relationships, that the brother is no longer solely the protector; the sister is also an equally strong character in her own right. Families may be far apart geographically rather than cohabiting in the same household, and the emotional conflicts may be about the need to stay connected despite these distances.
Even the traditional Rakhi songs might take a different turn, changing from protection and duty themes to friendship, companionship, shared childhood memories, and the bonds that siblings have with one another.
Thus, while the festival of Raksha Bandhan has not disappeared, what has disappeared is the old Bollywood language that was once used to depict those relationships. The challenge for modern Hindi filmmakers is not to recreate the family dramas of the past but to understand what Raksha Bandhan means to contemporary audiences.
The new generation may have a different perspective on family, protection, and sibling duty. But the emotional foundation of the festival is still very much alive and well, despite time and society’s changes.
If Bollywood can find a fresh and innovative way to tell these stories—without the old gender roles—then it can only use the power and resonance of the Rakhi narrative again. The next Raksha Bandhan movie might not be based on a brother rescuing his sister; it might just be about two siblings finding their way back to each other in the midst of a rapidly changing world and showing how strong a bond they remain in this new age.
In this extended version of this article, we delve into the themes in better detail, and we get a sense of the evolution of Raksha Bandhan in Hindi movies.
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