Once upon a time Bollywood relied on the bushes and the bees to show desire. With the pandemic putting an end to kissing-vissing, will films and TV shows have to press rewind on bold content?
Mohua Das (BOMBAY TIMES; June 7, 2020)

Fear of a different sort of Coronavirus casualty is looming large over film and TV folks — the death of the steamy sex scene in the wake of a pandemic and strict social distancing protocol imposed by an official directive from the cultural affairs ministry that allows shooting to resume within the two weeks but with a compulsory two-metre distance between members of the cast and crew.

At a time when erotic content was sweeping through the Indian entertainment space, boldly aided by streaming platforms, the future of screen intimacy suddenly seems precarious. In April, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had pondered the same questions in an Instagram post, where he wrote: “How the cinema world conducts shooting intimate scenarios (has) to be seen and planned, after all this is over. Especially the intimate kissing/hugging scenes.”

There is always editing and imagination to rely on, says Prabhleen Kaur Sandhu, producer of Mastram, based on the life of an erotica writer. “Two actors on screen can be made to look closer than they actually are. The build-up of the foreplay is more sensuous than the act itself and, therefore, camera angles and clever edits will become all the more important,” explains Sandhu, pointing at the industry’s need for “intimacy directors or coordinators” — a fast growing tribe in Hollywood fuelled by the MeToo movement — who help artistes and productions navigate everything from hugs and kisses to nudity and faux sex.

Before the pandemic hit, the makers of Mastram — a show on MX Player (disclosure: it is a Times Group company) — had flown in Amanda Cutting who had worked as an intimacy coordinator on a prequel of ‘Game of Thrones’. Cutting told TOI, “Some of the best intimacy is seeing the desire in a person’s eyes, the quiver of a lip, a hand that moves subtly. Intimacy isn’t really about the simulated sex. It is about the story, relationship and moments that cause it to build. As an intimacy coordinator, I have tools to trick an eye to think something is happening when in fact it isn’t.”

Sandhu says Cutting’s team came with intimacy kits that provide thick covers that help choreograph scenes in a way that looks real while protecting actors from unwanted touch. “Something like that can be useful at this time. If makers of erotic shows bring in intimacy experts for future shoots, I don’t see a reason for compromising on scenes that might take away from the essence of a show. Kissing might still be problematic, she admits, “because it’s direct contact and can still transmit the virus.”

Amid several shoulds and shouldn’ts, one thing that is hanging like a double-edged sword on actors and directors alike is whether time-honoured metaphors — two flowers brushing against each other, actors disappearing behind a giant tree to depict a liplock or a trembling bed and gyrating car to simulate sex — might make a comeback.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, known to settle for an ‘A’ certificate rather than butcher subjects and scenes dealing with lovemaking, pornography and infidelity, is predictably concerned. “There had been a paradigm shift in content for films and web series in recent years. They pushed boundaries and several taboos were lifted. Now with the Covid crisis and no cure in sight, I’ve been discussing with fellow filmmakers about how we can shoot romantic moments — be it on a bed or at a party. Technology can help create a crowd but what about two characters hugging? Can we go back to the primitive days in which flowers and birds symbolised intimacy?” he frets.

Vikram Bhatt, who has been churning out erotic thrillers since the ‘90s and continues to break conventions, feels a return to the chastity of “two doe-eyed lovers” is an “absurd proposition”. “It’ll be bizarre and comical if that happened! I don’t think the current generation of viewers would even understand it,” argues Bhatt, given that romances no longer end with the heroine falling into the arms of her hero but big dollops of straightforward sex.

“At the same time, intimacy applies not only to kissing or sex scenes, but also to a range of human emotions portrayed through physical touch. If one thing is allowed, the others will have to be too,” reasoned Bhatt. Emphasising on rapid testing kits to keep cameras rolling, he dwelled on single location shoots to keep a film or TV show contained in scale without necessarily constricting the story.

“Today you can’t cheat audiences with obliqueness,” agrees Vishnu Mohta, co-founder of the Bengali video streaming platform Hoichoi that has about eight shows with bold erotic content that have been given a raincheck until December when the hope is that things will begin to normalise. “Shows today are built around reality, therefore body language matters. The larger challenge is proximity and how much can you rely on cheat shots and CG?”

Mekala Krishnaswamy, who finished shooting a social drama that involved intimate moments before lockdown happened, highlights why sexual intimacy is increasingly a part of the vernacular. “Our show is about a guy who is down in the dumps when his life turns around. It’s not an erotica but does have intimate scenes because they’re part of communicating a character’s headspace and emotion, not for titillation,” she explains, while speculating on ways in which an intimate sequence could still be shot “after isolating the characters for 10 days, getting them tested, having bathing arrangements on set and a minimal crew.”

But even as lockdown lifts, sanitation is ramped up and directors get creative with how they show intimacy, actors remain perturbed. “No matter how many tests and temperature checks happen, you don’t know where your co-actors have been or who they’ve met. I do eroticas and most of my shows involve kissing. I’m scared and worried,” admits Priya Banerjee, known for turning up the heat with her steamy act in shows like Twisted, Hello Mini, Bekaboo and Baarish across OTT platforms. “While I hope there’ll be honesty between actors involved in intimate scenes, I have already spoken to my manager and producers about eliminating kissing scenes in future projects. If it isn’t needed, I am going to put my foot down. It’s not just about audiences, it’s about life and survival.”

Not alarmed by the possibility of birds and bees stealing her thunder, Priya beams: “You know, I’ll be the happiest if flowers and bushes return! Intimacy is anyway overwhelming so this would free me of any worry, my parents would be happy and the florists would be back in business!”

In the post Covid-19 era, physical or emotional intimate scenes could be a no-go in Bollywood
Shreya Mukherjee and Sonil Dedhia (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 18, 2020)

“Do phool takraayenge, aur hum samajh jaayenge,” quips actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik as he conjectures how romantic and intimate scenes could rewind to the ’70s and ’80s in the post Coronavirus era. But on a serious note, considering how new rules of on-screen intimacy — emotional and physical — are being outlined across the world in these times of social distancing, “safety is more important than passionate scenes,” says Kaushik.

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had recently raised the topic about how the shooting of intimate scenarios in films will change after this pandemic.

And while actor Dia Mirza had a fitting reply, “Guru, the entire process of making a film is intimate!”, screenwriter-director Hitesh Kewalya says in a country like India, where we work shoulder-to-shoulder, “it’s difficult to maintain social distancing to begin with. It won’t be easy, but we’ve to find a way”, says the Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan director.

Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee, who is working on Gangubai Kathiawadi, believes “physical and emotional intimate scenes can be managed” by putting the “actors, who’d be performing these scenes, in quarantine and monitoring their health before shooting, or with certain camera angles, and use of technology and visual effects”.

Actor Kunal Kemmu gives his perspective by saying since he has a two and half year old daughter at home, he would like to check into a hotel till a schedule is completed. “It would cut off the risk of my family being affected even if there are any chances. Obviously, there is no clarity as to when we will start shooting but production houses are deciding on certain norms keeping in mind the safety of everyone,” he says.

Though intimate scenes often become talking points and generate interest, trade expert Atul Mohan feels not many “actors would be ready to take the risk” of doing such scenes. “We’ll have to avoid shooting such scenes,” he adds.

Intimacy coordinator Amanda Cutting, who has worked on web series Mastram and also on an unaired prequel pilot for Game Of Thrones, says that protocols have already been put in place in Spain, Australia and Italy, and India could take a cue from them. “We’ll have to look at different options. Can intimacy be done without kissing? Absolutely. An intimate moment can be two people making eye-contact or a hand touching another hand which tells a passionate love story,” she says.

Action director Sham Kaushal says that change is the law of the nature and a lot of things are going to be different when it comes to how we approach the shoots now. “We’ll have to reinvent our working style and be cautious. Also, the technology is so advanced. We can take help of VFX to show a few things.”

Censor board member and writer Mihir Bhuta says regulations from the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health, in this regard are awaited. Bhuta, who is avoiding adding group scenes in his projects, adds, “Physical intimate scenes involves two people at a time. That can be done by getting them tested and quarantining them. But that’d be difficult for over 25 people on the set.”

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.

Intimacy coordinator for the web series Mastram, Amanda Cutting, on what her presence on a film set means for aesthetics in a post - #MeToo world
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 3, 2020)

For the longest time, the most persistent imagery of sex on our screens was the visual of two flowers coming together. And yet, in a parallel universe, existed the erotic novels by Mastram that explored the vivid sexual experiences of the common Indian. Thus, it was essential for producers of a biographical series based on Mastram, to depict sex uninhibitedly — much like how Vatsayana’s Kamasutra meant for us to enjoy the experience.

Among the first things that producer Sunil Bohra and the OTT platform MX Player did was hire an intimacy co-ordinator, a first for the Indian entertainment industry.

Amanda Cutting, who has previously worked on an unaired prequel pilot for Game Of Thrones, The Magicians and The Good Doctor, was flown in from Canada for the job.

Cutting, locked down at her home in Calgary, Canada, tells mid-day in a telephonic interview that she had to mentally realign herself to Indian sensibilities to deliver an authentic show that stayed true to its muse. “The idea of bringing me down was to ensure that performers are confident doing intimate actions and feel safe during shooting. Because I had both prior directorial experience and have worked on shows with explicit sexual content, they felt like I was a good fit,” she says about the 10- episode series directed by Akhilesh Jaiswal, starring Anshuman Jha and Tara Alisha Berry.

Mastram is an adapted biopic based on the life of erotica writer Mastram. The show blends in experiences of his personal life and his stories. On the subject, Cutting says, “I was familiar with Mastram because my uncle is East Indian. But, as part of my research, I familiarised myself with the details of the script and understood the cultural milieu of the stories he wrote. I got [my hands on] some translated Mastram novels to understand how he created sexual tension. A lot of the choreography for these scenes was done keeping in mind the novel.”

The thing about depicting sex on screen, Amanda concedes, is to ensure that it’s sensual and arousing. “In this case, I had to help the audience use its imagination to finish off stories. Some of it was explicit, a lot of it was suggestive. And that often has a more seductive impact than a full naked body.”

She adds that she stayed away from Bollywood clichés. “The positions usually utilised were discarded. I brought in many Kamasutra positions that honoured Indian culture and don’t rely on the Westerner’s gaze. Different things are considered appealing for people in different cultures. It was a pleasant discovery that Indians like curvy women. As a full figured woman myself, it was refreshing to know that curves are sexy. Also, it was nice to realise that build-up and tension is valued. Indians understand foreplay. Delayed gratification is a significant tool in my line of work where we can drag an audience along for the ride and keep them excited. That’s where the sizzle lies.”

Cutting walks us through workshops and storyboards created for every scene that helped familiarise the cast with the choreography of an intimate scene. “It’s like dance prep where there are set moves which are orchestrated. So, where do the hands go, in what position should each performer be, what are the barriers so that private parts don’t graze. The better you know them, the safer you feel, the better you perform. Every detail was discussed thoroughly and after that there could be no changes. It also reduced the possibility of retakes.”

She says that work begins where a script would say “they make love passionately on the beach” “What does this entail? Will they be nude or under beach towels? The intent of the scene had to be clearly stated. Depending on the scene, there was a strict close-set protocol where only essential crew was allowed. A lovemaking scene usually had the two performers, the DOP, the sound recordist, the director and myself. Eliminating people was important to ensure a safe environment.”

In the post-#MeToo world, her own hiring, Cutting believes, helps establish the idea of setting boundaries for artistes. “Defining consent is top priority now. Every actor has different boundaries and my job was to ensure the scene supports the story and is not gratuitous. No actor should be compelled or pushed into a scene. Sometimes, producers, even in the West, would pressure to show more; something that the performer on that day may not have wanted to do. Productions might want to push them to hold up to their contract but my job is to ensure they feel safe and consequently negotiate on scenes. Sometimes changing shooting angles can help say the same story, without making anyone feel uncomfortable. I am now getting called at the audition level itself to familiarise actors with what they are walking into. They can say no right at the start if they wish.”