Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 26, 2017)

Recently, Taapsee Pannu caused a stir in the South Indian film industry when she talked about a practice that has been going on for decades. Directors down South like to shoot heroines’ midriff with different objects, because they believe it looks sensual on screen. Citing an example, Taapsee had revealed that one filmmaker had filmed her while dropping a coconut on her midriff.

She had said, “On the first day, they started with a song, with this obsession over midriff. The director who launched me is known to show the sensuality of a woman by showing the midriff and throwing fruits and flowers on the midriff. I saw Sridevi’s and other videos, everyone had flowers and fruits thrown at them. When it was my turn, they threw a coconut at me. I don’t know what is so sensuous about a coconut hitting my midriff.” We asked Ileana D’Cruz and Amy Jackson, who have also worked in the South industry, if they too had similar experiences, and this is what they said....

Ileana D’Cruz
My first South film was with Y V S Chowdary, he considers K Raghavendra Rao his guru, and is known to film such scenes. So yes, in my first Telugu film, there was this scene where I had a porcelain shell dropped on my belly, in slow motion. And it was fairly big and heavy. My ab muscles hurt so much. I was 18 then and I had no idea what I was doing and why it is considered sexy. There would be so many shots and close-ups so often. It’s been 11 years, and I still don’t understand what goes into filmmaking at all. I am comfortable having people tell me what to do. As far as the flowers, coconuts, and all are concerned, it’s horrible. They used to call me Nadumu something which technically means hip something. Now, I have to thank them because I was ragged for the longest time for having big hips, and they kind of made me look at myself and feel: that’s not bad! (laughs)

Amy Jackson
It’s horrific! I want to request makers to please stop this. I guess it’s in the Telugu industry. I have definitely not gone through this and I am glad I didn’t. Because if someone did that to me, I will throw the coconut right back at them. They would never do that to me because they know I am like this. Also, I have been really fortunate and have worked with some great directors and good co-stars. Not every actress has been in this situation. But being in such a situation is horrible. I would hate to have to deal with that.