India's film industry (aka Bollywood) tends to shy away from nudity, an element of filmmaking unacceptable to mainstream Indian society. Imagine the shockwaves caused by news of American adult film star Sunny Leone planning to appear in her birthday suit in the upcoming Bollywood film Jism 2. Ms. Leone, 30, who is of Indian/Canadian origin, established herself in the American adult entertainment industry, has recently moved to India. Ms. Leone quickly landed a starring role in Bigg Boss, an Indian reality show based on America’s Big Brother. (In the show, celebrity contestants stay together in one house for about three months, cut off from the outside world. They are supervised by a mysterious man called 'Bigg Boss', who communicates with them throughout the house with his voice.)
Complaints about Ms. Leone on the show were lodged with The Indian Broadcasters Foundation (IBF) and The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC). Most of the complaints argued that Sunny Leone was promoting her pornographic website through her appearance on Bigg Boss (A segment of Ms. Leone on Bigg Boss can be found on Youtube) Towards the end of 2011, “Sunny Leone” became on the most googled words in India.
“It’s only natural Bollywood audiences would have a negative reaction to her (Sunny Leone)”, stated Lynell Formen, of Brooklyn N.Y, who has become a fan of Indian movies. “Most of the Indian audiences don’t want that sexy stuff clogging up their films. I catch movies at a local Indian movie theatre. If an actress walked across the screen in a bikini, for example, some audience members will voice disapproval.” On Monday, January 9, Justice Katju, an Indian entertainment industry chairman, stated in reaction to viewer complaints about the slow action by the BCCC, stated Sunny Leone had behaved in an acceptable manner in India, and there should be no action against her.
''If she (Leone) conducts herself in India in a manner which is socially acceptable in India and does not breach the social moral code in India, we should not treat her as a social outcast,'' according to Katju. Ms. Leone’s current film in production is Jism 2, a sequel to Jism, a 2003 Indian thriller. (Jism being the Hindi word for “body”) Jism was an Indian version of Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity. The sequel, which supposedly will show a lot of Ms. Leone, is directed by Pooja Bhatt, an Indian movie actress. Complaints to the Indian press have included “What’s wrong with the Bollywood film industry?” “Sunny Leone made a living in USA in a manner acceptable in that country, though it is not acceptable in India!”, and “Where's the filmmaker of yore gone? Why do these moviemakers need to bank on the popularity of a porn star to sell movies? There are so many good heroines in India.” Jism 2 is expected to be released in late 2012.
Ms. Formen concluded “I recently watched Shhh, an Indian horror film that imitated our 1980’s horror movies. It had all the ingredients of those classic horror films- a madman killing college kids, screaming cats scaring people investigating a haunted house- everything! They avoided the excessive gore and gratuitous nudity. It was so fascinating to see such a unique variation on clichéd horror films.”
Other footnote- another filmmaking element having difficulty finding an Indian audience is 3-D. Utpal Acharya, of Reliance, a leading Indian Production company stated "In the first week (of release of an Indian film made in 3-D) we had 3,105 prints. This included 400 prints in 3D. The 3D prints were retained in the second week. This week the prints are reduced."
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