A guy falling in love with an older woman in ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno', A leading fashion designer in a gay relationship in ‘Fashion', two normal men pretending to be in gay relationship in ‘Dostana' and a man falling in love with his brother's fiancée in ‘Sorry Bhai' complex issues and taboo subjects hitherto confined to domain of arthouse cinema formed backdrop of many Bollywood films in 2008.

The year gone by, which saw the film industry try its hand at a diverse range of subjects, from the period film ‘Jodha Akbar' to ‘Taut thrillers' like ‘A Wednesday' and ‘Ghajini' to comedies like ‘Singh Is King' and 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' and horror films like ‘Phoonk' and ‘1920', also saw it breaking new grounds with a host of films delving into unconventional subjects.

The year began with Ashutosh Gowarikar's ‘Jodha Akbar' dealing with the unconventional and hitherto untouched romance between Mughal Emperor Akbatr and his Rajput Queen Jodhabai.

Though the film created a furore amongst many Rajput organisation for its misinterpretation of history, it hit the bull's eye at the box office. Made at a cost of Rs 40 crore, the film was a big hit across the country as well as overseas and turned out to be the only hit of the first quarter.

Later in the year, Yashraj Films' ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno' grabbed eyeballs with the love story between Ranbir Kapoor and a much older Bipasha Basu.

Though Bipasha herself dismissed the age Difference between her and Ranbir, her pairing with Ranbir Kapoor in the film, dealing with the love story of this man with three women in three different stages of his life, became a talking point in the media.

With an encouraging public response, ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno' came as a much needed breather for Yashraj Films, reeling under the failure of their much hyped action film ‘Tashan'.

Also hitting the Bull's eye at the box office was ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na', an unconventional campus romance featuring Aamir Khan's nephew Imran Khan in the lead.

The unconventional love story between Imran and Genelia D' Souza in the film and a chartbuster musical score from the maestro A R Rahman made this film a winner at the box office, beating the much hyped ‘Love Story 2050'. Made at a cost of around Rs 9 crore, the film earned over Rs 30 crore from theatrical, satellite and video rights.

Another film making a mark at the box office despite its unconventional storyline was Madhur Bhandarkar's ‘Fashion'.

The film, which dealt with the reality behind the glamour charactersising the world of fashion, eandeared itself to the audience despite it having a track of a leading fashion designer in a gay relationship. Made at a budget of Rs 20 crore, ‘Fashion' is expected to recover its cost.

The ‘'coming of age film' for Bollywood in terms of tackling the taboo subject of gay relationships was undoubtedly ‘Dostana' which had Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham play two normal guys pretending to be in a gay relationship in order to get a house on rent.

The film had the cinegoers turning out in large numbers to the cinema halls despite its liberal use of the gay terminology and gay mannerisms by both Abhishek and John. ‘Doostana' was perhaps the first film in Hindi cinema where a mother was shown to accept the relationship of her son with another man.

That ‘Fashion' and ‘Dostana' scored at the box office despite their open display of gay relationships and gay mannerisms indicates that the Indian audience has come to accept such taboo subjects in films. It is notable that Deepa Mehta's ‘Fire', which dealt with a relationship between two women, met with a poor response when released in theatres a few years ago.