In a crucial scene in Ishqiya, a lascivious Babban (Arshad Warsi) corners the widow Krishna (Vidya Balan), who presumably hasn’t had any sex since her husband’s death four years ago. Babban pushes her against the wall, his lips just a few inches away from hers, teases her, and then moves away.
Krishna, though, has other plans. She pulls him back towards herself, and the two share a kiss that grows into a full-blown makeout session. They rip each other’s clothes off and tumble in a passionate heap.
The fact that this is a forbidden pleasure — for Krishna because she is a widow and for Babban because his mentor is desperately in love with her, too — only adds an edge to their lovemaking.
Getting to see two actors stay lip-locked for a good, long minute in a mainstream Hindi film is heartening (no disrespect to the
path-breaking Aamir Khan-Karishma Kapoor smooch in Raja Hindustani). Our film-makers have obviously come a long way since a shot of two flowers leaning into each other signified sweaty passion. For this, they have their audiences to thank.
“Today, people feel no discomfort in watching two actors make love on screen along with a hundred others in a cinema hall," says Shyam Benegal. "Earlier, such scenes would result in seat-shifting moments for most.”
Benegal points out that few contemporary film-makers use coy metaphors to suggest sex. In Dev.D, for example, Dev and Paro don’t wait to grow up before they express their love for each other. They are not even beyond indulging in the occasional phone sex.
How to do it
Shekhar Kapur, who used sex both as a violent force for subjugation and as a means for pleasure in Bandit Queen, says a lot of directors are too self-conscious to pull off sex scenes. Making actors feel secure enough to do such scenes with ease is another aspect of a good director’s job, he says.
“For at least three days before I shot the sex scene between Seema Biswas and Nirmal Pandey in the film, I referred to them only by the names of their characters. This made them less conscious of themselves, and helped them get into character,” he says.
Abhishek Chaubey, director of Ishqiya, made a special effort to put his artistes at ease for the intense lovemaking scene. He says both Warsi and Vidya were aware of what they were getting into, but he took care to iron out any awkwardness.
“We sat down and had a chat and got rid of our discomfort," says Chaubey. "The set was a closed one with only a few technicians, the actors, and me present.”
Kapur believes directors who are insensitive or overly conscious about shooting sex scenes can mess them up. He is particularly angry with film-makers who for years used rape as a titillating tool in their films. This trend has now mercifully disappeared from Indian films.
A sex scene should take the story forward, helping to build plot or character, or else it becomes gratuitous. In Bandit Queen, Phoolan Devi, who was often sexually exploited and abused, wanted to experience the pleasure of consensual sex. Film-maker Dibakar Banerjee rates the scene in which Phoolan is on top of her lover among the best sex scenes shot by an Indian film-maker.
“She is the one calling the shots," says Banerjee. "It’s imperative from the point of view of the story — where she has mostly been a victim.”
Banerjee himself will tread the ‘bold’ path in his next film based on voyeurism, LSD: Love Sex Aur Dhoka. His film will capture love between individuals in different settings, with hidden cameras, and the promos carry fairly graphic scenes.
But Banerjee makes it clear that the sex in the film is necessary for its progress. “Sex in itself, anyway, is boring," he argues. "If there is a shot of a man simply eating, it won’t interest you. But if you know that the food is poisoned, there is drama. Similarly, sex for the heck of it doesn’t work. There has to be drama connected to it.”
Banerjee cites the example of Parinda, where director Vidhu Vinod Chopra shot one of the more graphic sex scenes of Hindi
cinema. The characters of Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit have sex on their wedding night and, soon after, they are brutally murdered by a manic don (Nana Patekar).
“The scene moved the viewer," says Banerjee. "The two have sex and then discuss the name of the child they will have some day. When they are shot down later, it signals not just their death but also the end of their dream. There is a sense of tragedy in retrospect.”
Parinda, in fact, rates high among most directors’ list of great sex scenes in Indian films and that includes Kapur and Benegal. But for Benegal, few images beat the ones of Silk Smitha in the Malayalam films of the 1960s. “Those thunder thighs!” says Benegal. “It’s hard to beat that.”
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