Close up!

Shivli Tyagi / TNN / Jan 5, 2006, 21:05 IST

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Bheege honth tere, pyaasa dil mera.... and the screen sizzles. It's hot and sensual. Intimate or love scenes are now ruling the silver screen.

Bheege honth tere, pyaasa dil mera.... and the screen sizzles. It's hot and sensual. Intimate or love scenes are now ruling the silver screen.
Gone are the days when flowers bloomed and bushes shook to show two young souls in love.Hindi films have definitely arrived.
So we have Mallika Sherawat sizzle with costar Emran Hashmi or for that matter Fardeen Khan and Koena Mitra in a steamy shower sequence, leaving very little to imagination.
But talk to stars about the filming part of these 'intimate' scenes and you draw responses like 'irritating', 'mechanical' and even 'clinical'. AT spoke to actors and directors on how they manage to get the real sizzle on screen.

Emran Hashmi, the guy who romanced Mallika Sherawat on the window panel in Murder, sums it all up as 'irritating'. "Even though one needs to project a certain kind of emotion, the whole set-up behind the shooting is very annoying. Given a chance, I would avoid it totally," says Emran Hashmi.
While actor Ashmit Patel feels shooting intimate scenes 'is part of the job'. "It is as difficult or as easy as the rest of the scenes.

It doesn't make all that difference to us to shoot such scenes with the whole film crew looking on. Though I think the women feel a bit embarrassed and would even demand the sets to be cleared."
Actor Pravin Dabas who has had the much talked about kissing scenes feels oozing the right emotions depends on the level of comfort one has with the costar. "It is all very professional but yes, one does wish it gets over quickly and convincingly."
As far as the actual filming of the scene is concerned, Dabas laughs and says, "I think it is more about the girl trusting the guy. I have never had a problem with my costars on this. Maybe they trusted me and knew I wasn't any slimball."
Directors on their part have a harrowing time trying to get the right kind of chemistry on-screen. Deepak Tijori thinks that the Indian actors still need to reach that level of professionalism wherein they can portray intimate scenes convincingly.
"I have known actors for whom it is difficult to accept what they are required to do. But then I think it depends on the director's ability to convince them."
Summing up the secret behind the on-screen intimacy, TV host Pooja Bedi says, "Eventually it boils down to the chemistry between the actors. Why only Indian films, there are many western films wherein the actors have zero chemistry."
But Bedi admits that it takes a lot of effort on the actors' part to shoot an intimate scene. "I had a couple of scenes like that with Aamir Khan in Jo Jeet... and it was tough. The actual process was very unromantic.
There is the cameraman yelling out the directions, the light technician is busy checking the lights and so on... It takes a lot to get the mood going then."
On a lighter note, Bedi says she finds it easier doing intimate scenes rather than solo scenes. "One just goes with the flow during such scenes.
In solo scenes one has to take care of so many things like the lines, the look, expressions and such...Maybe that's the reason I never had any hang-up about doing such scenes."

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