For the first time, a web series has roped in an intimacy co-ordinator, Amanda Cutting, to create safe working spaces for artistes
Nuzhat Aziz (BOMBAY TIMES; May 17, 2020)

Whether it is a mega or medium budget film, a web film or web series, shooting intimate scenes for the screen is a challenge for filmmakers. It needs to be directed and filmed aesthetically and with sensitivity, apart from creating a comfortable space for the actors in the spotlight. So, when producer Prabhleen Kaur roped in intimacy coordinator, Amanda Cutting, for the recently launched web series Mastram, it was a refreshing initiative. The series — an adapted biopic based on the erotic writer, Mastram — needed to depict sex in an unrestrained manner and Amanda was flown in from Canada to help actors feel confident and reduce the emotional bleed-off that can happen during the shoot of intimate scenes. Excerpts from an interview…

How difficult was it to break the language barrier and understand the intricacies of intimacy suited for the Indian sensibility with regard to erotica?
Mastram, the author, has a cult following in India and it was important to do this in a manner that paid homage to that. I got some of his works translated into English to have a stronger idea of the context of the show, and the poetry of Mastram. It was important for me to understand how Mastram creates these sensuous scenes, and the language that he utilises in order to depict them. It is erotica, and there’s nothing that you can avoid in that, but it could have gone incredibly graphic in a way that felt distasteful. But I really feel it was incredibly, elegantly done.

How important is it to have intimacy coordinators on board a film set, especially in a post #MeToo era?
I am seeing a massive uptake in production houses wanting intimacy coordinators on their sets. I think people are seeing the difference that it makes. Unfortunately, there is a disease of mediocrity out there. Because we are trying to pump out so much content so quickly that we forget that the artistes are human beings. I feel artistes are not confident when there is no clear communication between the production unit and the performers.

Do you think the way we shoot intimate scenes will change in the post-Coronavirus pandemic future?
Making sure that we are not exposing people unnecessarily is critical. It could also mean that there is a revival of renaissance flirting on screen. Something that I loved about the Bollywood films of the 60s and 70s was a lot of the tantalising eye contact and the sensual dancing used as build-up. Indians really know how to flirt on film. With challenges comes an amazing collective creativity and it might even be something that’s more exciting to watch.
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ON THE MOST CHALLENGING SCENES

“The Kama Sutra scene (with Isha Chhabra and Anshuman Jha) with candles was incredible. We had very specific positions that we wanted to embrace in that scene and Tara Alisha Berry was brilliant because she is so flexible that it actually allowed us to pull out even more interesting positions. It was also challenging because we only had that much time on set.

The motorcycle scene was a challenge because the actors were being vulnerable, and doing something that, on camera, appears that it is public. However, we made sure there was no actual public perceiving those actions. We had a lot of security, and massive big curtains that basically covered and created a big black box around the area. The content that we were creating was 4-5 minutes long, after an average 4-6 hours of shooting.”
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FILMING AN INTIMATE SCENE

- First, we understood the performers’ personal boundaries.

- We then had a workshop with the performers where we cleared their consent with each other, and went through the storyboard so that they knew exactly the sexual positions, and the angles they were being filmed from, including the type of lighting we were using.

- Next, we walked through the choreography, as that’s really what it is. It is no different than a Bollywood musical dance sequence.