Showing posts with label Aastha Khanna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aastha Khanna. Show all posts
Intimacy experts are bringing comfort to film shoots
11:09 AM
Kate Winslet’s comment highlights crucial role of intimacy coordinators; in Bollywood, more directors are using their services
Natasha Coutinho (BOMBAY TIMES; April 12, 2024)
Most directors will tell you how the filming of an intimate scene is among the most delicate parts of a shoot, as it requires comfort and trust between actor and director.
Over the past few years, Bollywood has been increasingly roping in intimacy coordinators based on the needs of a project. The Shahid Kapoor-Kriti Sanon starrer Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, which released recently, had multiple intimate scenes, one of which was trimmed by the CBFC.
Director Amit Joshi, who shared credits with Aradhana Sah, told us: “It’s important for actors and directors to build trust before the filming begins. Scenes are discussed in detail in advance so that actors can state their reservations, if any. We ensured our actors were comfortable. Today, even actors understand the creative process.”
We spoke to intimacy coordinators, directors, and actors to understand the challenges that intimate scenes pose and how those are overcome during the shoot.
WHAT IS A NUDITY RIDER?
The actors sign a contract document called the nudity rider which details the intimate scenes and the fact that the actor has agreed to shoot them
HOW ARE INTIMATE SCENES SHOT?
- Knowing the script: Understanding what kind of intimacy scenes — kissing scenes, disrobing, simulated sex — the script needs. Workshops are conducted to make the actors feel comfortable with each other
- Discussions with the director: The coordinators discuss with the director what they are looking to portray
- Detailing and checklist: The scene is finalized after thrashing out the minute details, such as where the actor will place his hands while shooting a kissing scene.
(Inputs by Akshay Muraka, intimacy choreographer)
At times, just a conversation with the actors is enough: Coordinator Aastha Khanna
“I was working as Shakun Batra’s assistant prepping for Gehraiyaan when I joined (Hollywood intimacy coordinator) Amanda Blumenthal’s training programme. This helped when we were shooting the intimate scenes in the film. In web series such as Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo, and Four More Shots Please! (S3), collaborating closely with directors has given me the freedom to push artistic boundaries. At times, the actors have already figured out what works for them. So, just a conversation is enough to make them understand how the scene will work.”
Rehearsals for intimate scenes play an important role, says actress Shilpa Shukla
“During my first few films like Khamosh Pani and BA Pass, we would improvise intimate scenes on set. As an actor, my concern with intimate scenes is to create the right emotions. I have always been at ease with these scenes. I played a lesbian character in Four More Shots Please! (S3). Rehearsals for intimate scenes play an important role.”
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If a kissing sequence is happening, they say how much you should kiss, and where to refrain
- Kartik Aaryan
I have never had an intimacy coordinator but we absolutely need it. I was once told to do something and I did because I agreed with the vision. I didn't even thing about the fact that how it was done was wrong
- Radhika Apte
One may not realize how workshops are essential in making of 30-second sex scene, until it actually plays out-Samvedna Suwalka
8:15 AM
Sharing screen space with an ensemble cast in Tamannaah Bhatia-starrer Jee Karda, Samvedna Suwalka on what intimacy coaching for the show entailed
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; June 9, 2023)
Tamannaah Bhatia-starrer series Jee Karda chronicles the lives of seven friends who grew up together, and continue to navigate life, and friendship into their 30s.
“Their friendship commences from their schooling days. An incident occurs, and that binds them together. They grow up, but they keep coming back to each other. The show is named Jee Karda because it showcases how they impulsively try to [find] joy in their lives,” says Samvedna Suwalka, who features as one of the seven friends in the Maddock show.
As a young girl married into a family where space continues to remain a constraint, Suwalka’s character, Sheetal, is often seen struggling to express her love for her husband.
“We have intimate scenes, which often see our characters rushing through the process of sex because they fear someone might walk into them [during the act]. We worked with intimacy coach Aastha [Khanna], who also worked with Deepika [Padukone] in Gehraiyaan.”
Chronicling what the process of intimacy coaching entails, Suwalka shares, “It begins with simply talking about your body parts — the ones you are both comfortable and uncomfortable with. It also involves non-verbal communication. It is so difficult to simply sit and look into someone’s eyes without saying a word to each other. The idea of expressing without speaking is not easy. In another, we were made to stand at a certain distance, while each one of us approached the other. We were asked to share when our proximity made any one of us uncomfortable. Often, one may not be able to decipher how these workshops are essential in the making of a 30-second long sex scene, until it actually plays out.”
Asserting that intimate scenes are also completely choreographed, Suwalka highlights that both actors are required to ask the other for consent before the camera rolls.
“Both the woman and the man may feel vulnerable. Each one needs to discuss how he/she intends to touch the other during the shot. In our case, these trust exercises were particularly important because the director wanted it to appear like we were a married couple who were not having sex for the first time. We were also asked about the clothes that we were comfortable wearing.”
Ask her how matters would proceed if she was uncomfortable with the final product, and she gives credit to director Arunima Sharma for allowing hers to be the last call.
“Due to certain situations, we had to be rather quick while shooting the scene. When we saw some rushes, there was one aspect that I wasn’t comfortable with, and I freaked out. I spoke to her, and she asked me for time to let her work with the rushes, and assured me that if I was unhappy with the edit, we’d discuss it. So, I was made to feel like the power was in my hands. There was a part I wasn’t happy with, and she also agreed that it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. So, we got rid of it.”
Clothes off, they step in: Meet the intimacy coordinators who make screen sex safer
8:19 AM
Ketaki Desai (THE TIMES OF INDIA; April 2, 2023)
Jaya Lakshmi Sundaresan remembers being on a movie set in Hyderabad with a very prominent producer and his gaggle of friends staring intently at the monitor. What had them so very transfixed was a steamy scene. “Though I was the costume designer, directors would sometimes ask me to be present for sex scenes to make sure the heroine is comfortable. That day, I said no unnecessary people should be on set, but was I able to stop them from making illicit comments and giggling? No, and I still feel so let down about it,” says the 39-year-old.
But Sundaresan can now put her foot down and her new-found confidence comes from the fact that she is now a trained intimacy coordinator (IC). Shakun Batra’s ‘Gehraiyaan’ made headlines for being the first Indian movie to hire intimacy coordinators but now it’s a growing field. While jokes about them being the “sex police” abound, Indian ICs say their role is not as sexy as it sounds. It is crucial to ensure that any intimacy being filmed is consensual, safe, in line with the artistic vision of the director, while still involving best practices. Think of it like a stunt coordinator but for intimacy.
The person who trained Sundaresan is Aastha Khanna, India’s first IC. She has trained six people thus far and is taking on another cohort soon. Having worked as an assistant director for several years, she was intrigued by this up-and-coming department. “It was a solution-oriented response to the #MeToo movement that focused on reducing risk spaces rather than creating a committee to deal with the after-effects,” she says.
When filming for ‘Gehraiyaan’ halted due to Covid, she decided to get certified as an IC, getting trained by Amanda Blumenthal, who has performed the role on shows like ‘Euphoria’ and ‘The Affair’.
SCRIPT TO SCENE
What exactly does an IC do? They are often involved from the time of scripting — discussing “the vocabulary of intimacy” with the director and actors, as Khanna puts it. “We spend so long discussing a piece of dialogue so why not do the same with a scene of intimacy where there may or may not be any dialogue? When one has a vocabulary of intimacy that comes from the character arc and cultural context of the story, it starts to feel real, not merely titillating,” she says.
Actor and filmmaker Neha Vyaso is another IC who has been trained in the US and will complete the certification soon. Vyaso says there are essentially three roles in the West when it comes to this kind of work — an intimacy coach, coordinator and director. “I have dabbled in all of them for films and OTT shows.”
A coach conducts workshops with performers and a director actually choreographs the scene itself, while a coordinator ensures best practices are being followed.
MAKING GUIDELINES
Khanna has also spearheaded an initiative to put together intimacy guidelines to create structure around something that can often be amorphous, especially in an industry that is mired in unequal power dynamics. Consent is important, but say you’re an inexperienced actor getting their big break, can you really feel empowered to set your boundaries? Akshay Murarka, who has become South Asia’s first male intimacy coordinator after Khanna’s programme, says there is an option to walk back. “Say there’s a newcomer actor who has agreed to a scene but later changes his or her mind, consent is reversible.”
However, whatever they signed off on in their contract may be filmed in some other fashion, using a body double or camera tricks.
This can play out in many ways, however, says Sundaresan, who is now the first IC in the South. “A director had asked me to be there for a long French kiss scene, because he didn’t want to talk to the heroine about it. On the day, she did not feel comfortable filming the scene and I supported her. But the production felt cheated. She didn’t end up filming the scene thankfully,” she says.
DRAWING THE LINE
The role of intimacy directors has become especially important after the #MeToo movement in Hollywood. Just this week, sexual harassment allegations against producer Sebastian Bear-McClard included testimony from a young woman who says that when she was 17, she filmed a nude scene in a movie he was producing with absolutely no notice. While filming, an actor whispered in her ear asking if he could ‘stick it in’.
Back home, Naina Bhan, actor and filmmaker who was inspired by Khanna to train as a coordinator herself, points out there will always be hierarchy on the set as in any workplace. “But the question is: how do I come out with my boundaries in place, safe and least affected?” She’s learnt a lot in her training — from thinking about how the scenes are digitally stored to making sure only what an actor has consented to in their nudity rider is reflected in the edit.
One of the challenges has been creating awareness about the importance of ICs. For a while, Khanna and Vyaso were the only ICs in the industry, but now, with others getting trained, the hope is to reach out to the Producer’s Guild to push for the use of ICs. Vyaso brushes off objections that ICs break the flow.
“You don’t say that when an action director is choreographing a fight scene where someone needs to be stabbed. Both are vulnerable positions to be in. Our job is not to interfere with the director’s vision but to enhance it,” Vyaso says.
And it’s not just sex scenes where an IC could come in handy, argues Murarka. “Say, there’s a scene with a minor where a parent is giving them a bath. When you watch it, you think about a father and daughter, but the actors are strangers. Or take an item number, where we can work on the gaze, or even a medical scene like childbirth,” he says.
Bhan, having worked with an IC as an actor, attests to the feeling of safety having one on set brought her. “It’s a lot easier, knowing that someone is there for you. Just having them in the room offers support. It also breaks the power dynamic on set — sometimes it’s awkward to communicate with your co-actor. Like say someone smokes and you have to kiss them, an IC helps create a neutral buffer of communication,” says Bhan, who hopes to add intimacy coordination to her creative arsenal.
WHAT’S THE ROLE?
- An IC acts as a mediator with performers — outlining exactly what is expected of them and discussing their rights and boundaries to ensure they are making an empowered decision about what they wish to do on screen
- When shooting happens, they ensure there is a closed set, which means that only those who are essential to the scene are present
- They make sure the actors are wearing barriers, like L-guards which actors with penises wear or even a deflated ball that is placed between the two actors, and modesty garments — which ensure their genitals are covered
Actor Naina Bhan says working with a professional during sex scenes made her feel more safe
I’m neither a prude nor the sex police. All I try to do is make sex safer on set-Aastha Khanna
4:36 PM
Once upon a time in Bollywood, all you needed for a sex scene were some frisky bees or flowers. But as things got steamier and the MeToo movement hit, the industry was faced with issues like consent and boundaries. Like Hollywood, some studios are now using intimacy directors to ensure the safety of actors performing scenes with sex or nudity. Sonam Joshi spoke to 26-year-old Aastha Khanna, India’s first certified intimacy coordinator about the challenges of her job
Sonam Joshi (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 8, 2021)
Intimacy coordinator is an unusual job title. How did you end up becoming one?
I’ve been working in the film industry for the last five years in various roles. The #MeToo movement really shook me because I am a survivor too. In 2020, while designing an intimacy exercise during an actors’ workshop, I came across this job role. It was bizarre that we had nothing like it in India, so I got in touch with Amanda Blumenthal, who is the founder of the Intimacy Professionals Association in the US and enrolled in a course with her.
What exactly do you do?
I first sit with the director to understand his or her vision, the theme and mood. I then talk to actors about their boundaries, what is okay to touch and not touch, and whether they have any traumas. In India, there are cultural and social boundaries, involving partners or families or an image the actor has. The idea is to choreograph a scene which tells the director’s story but doesn’t flout the actors’ boundaries.
The camaraderie between the actors is important so there are trust-building workshops. When an intimacy coordinator choreographs a scene, it’s practically like a dance. You know where your hands and legs are going to be, you rehearse it and then perform it. The dry rehearsals help us understand what will happen in the scene, what actors will wear, the space they will shoot in, and what kind of modesty garments are needed if there is nudity. There are barriers which are placed above and between genitals which make the actor feel comfortable and safe.
What happens if after all this prep, the actor is still uncomfortable?
They have the right to reverse consent. It’s pretty much the same as consent in relationships. You are getting remunerated, but you still have the right to say no because consent is reversible.
What are the misconceptions about your work?
People think we are like the sex police. Others joke that I get paid to watch people have sex or that I’ve seen everyone naked.
I often say that a costume designer has seen far more people naked than I have. Another major misconception is that an intimacy coordinator is a prude who will kill sexual chemistry. But what I’m doing a lot of the time is working against how prudish my directors are and telling them that a particular scene or kiss could be more steamy since it’s within the actors’ boundaries. I’m always trying to push for scenes to be delivered in the best, natural-looking but sexy way.
Do you get resistance and excuses on set?
I haven’t had that much pushback but one common excuse is that actors don’t have the time to meet me or for rehearsals. Such things happen when people don’t understand the process and why we do what we do. We have to ask actors questions without the director present, look at contracts and ensure that all the performers are comfortable with each other. The idea of these conversations is to bring everyone on the same page.
Where does the Hindi film industry stand with regards to consent and intimacy protocol since #MeToo?
We are moving towards best protocols and international standards regarding sexual harassment prevention and redressal, especially when it comes to larger studios. But though some big actors have a no kissing and no nudity clause, there are no guidelines on paper. I am trying to create a document with global guidelines adapted to India’s cultural context, which will work like a rule-book for how intimacy on screen is supposed to function. However, I feel a lot of directors are overcorrecting as they want to stay as far away from anything that could be construed as sexual harassment, and writers are becoming less imaginative with scenes. Gender balance has gone for a toss as people are scared, and it was already 1:10 even before this.
What were the scenes that were difficult?
One was a marital rape scene, which wasn’t difficult physically but emotionally. My solution was playing music to ease everyone’s nerves. Another one involved two straight men playing gay parts. It is far harder to do intimate scenes with men than women. In fact, a heterosexual man is the most difficult person to do an intimacy scene with. Their machismo does not allow them to accept boundaries and trauma in their own lives. Also, they don’t understand arousal non-concordance, which is when you can get aroused even if you don’t have sex with another person. It is just your body reacting to stimulus and that is why we have barriers.
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