New Delhi: From showing two roses brushing against one another or two pairs of feet rubbing and peeping out of sheets, to depict intimacy, Bollywood has come a long way and how! It is no longer rustling under the sheets now. From liplocks to frontal nudity, Bollywood’s intimate scenes don’t leave anything to imagination now.
But what are the boundaries that define sexually explicit scenes, what are the parameters and what does it take for the actors? Earlier, the production crews were responsible for actors on sets but now, Bollywood has its own and the very first ‘Intimacy Coordinator’.
The designation and the work profile didn’t exist in India till last year. This year, 26-year-old Aastha Khanna, who has been an assistant director on a couple of films earlier, decided to become India’s first Intimacy Coordinator and help directors translate their vision of an intimate scene on screen, keeping in mind the actors’ safety and comfort.
So what does her job entail?
She helps choreograph any scene that involves any kind of intimacy, sexual violence, nudity, or simulated sex. The work requires the Intimacy Coordinator to make sure that safety is of paramount importance and the actors are comfortable. Some tools are also used while choreographing such scenes that work as barriers between two people in order to make sure that no form of the genital area is touching the other if there is a scene of simulated sex. Besides that, Intimacy Coordinators also get actors to use modesty garments that are used in case of shooting any form of nudity.
“We use them to cover different parts of the body. They will be like a strapless bra and there is also strapless underwear, which is like C-shaped underwear. There are nipple pasties that cover the breast area. Then there is Tuck it, which is like an adhesive body tape that covers the genital regions without any strap around the side of the body,” Aastha told TimesNow.
Aastha told The Wire she wants to create a safe space for actors on set while choreographing sex scenes. She is putting together a collective of intimacy professionals and is drawing up guidelines for Bollywood film producers.
“Traumas and triggers are a huge aspect of what can get derailed during an intimate scene. It can flout somebody’s boundaries and add trauma to their lives,” Aastha was quoted as saying by The Wire.
Aastha trained at the Intimacy Professionals Association in Los Angeles.
