Centenary sends films porn crazy
INDIA’S first feature-length film, Raja Harishchandra, was released 100 years ago on May 3. A host of events were held around the globe to mark the milestone. Most concluded yesterday, with the presentation of the National Film Awards in Delhi and the release of portmanteau film Bombay Talkies, by Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap.
Commercially, Indian cinema is thriving. Almost 1 500 films were produced last year and the value of the industry is expected to increase by more than 50 percent within five years, according to consultancy KPMG.
The first animated Indian pornographic movie, Savita Bhabhi, will be launched today.
With Kama Sutra 3D to be released later this year, Indian cinema seems to have gone porn crazy on its centenary. This raises the question of whether it has progressed or regressed in 100 years.
It’s a fine time for reflection on how the industry has evolved, from early screen adaptations of Hindu mythology to the garish romantic escapism of modern blockbusters and the latest obsession with porn.
In a recent interview with the Times of India, formidable director Karan Johar said: “We were far more progressive in the 1940s and 1950s. We are celebrating a hundred years of cinema but emotionally we have regressed.”
The industry’s porn craze is ironic, since the production and distribution of pornography is illegal in India. But possession and watching are not – which I am not sure makes much sense.
Contributing to the obsession with sexually explicit adult entertainment is the introduction of former porn stars into mainstream Indian films.
Examples are Indo-Canadian Sunny Leone, who made her debut in Jism 2; former Indian porn star Sherlyn Chopra, who stars in Kama Sutra 3D; and the latest to jump on to the bandwagon, a UKborn adult entertainer known only as Shanti Dynamite and US porn star Priya Anjali Rai.
The 21-year-old Shanti will soon set screens alight in the Hindi film Chal Doctor Doctor Khelein, directed by Saurabh Malik, while Rai will make her debut later this year in a Hindi movie still to be named.
However, Rai’s will be no “skin flick”.
Savita Bhabhi caught the eye of distinguished Bollywood and Telegu director Ram Gopal Verma.
The director, screenwriter and producer, known for his hits Bhoot, Sarkar, Bhoot Returns and The Attacks of 26/11, is reported to be in talks with Roslyn Khan about playing the role of the lead, Savita.
He is allegedly interested in making a sex-comedy film based on the controversial character later this year.
If the project transpires, it will be the second mainstream Indian porn movie for a big-screen release. Kama Sutra 3D will be the first, though not officially classified a porn movie.
The animation began in March 2008 as an online comic strip. The popular first series, about the bored housewife Savita, had 36 stories and the second had eight.