For much of Hindi cinema’s history, intimacy arrived on screen as metaphor — two flowers brushing, waves breaking on a shore, a fire flaring in the night. What happened between actors on set was often left to mutual trust and improvisation.
That is now beginning to change. Bollywood and the streaming productions around it are slowly adopting a practice long standard in Hollywood: hiring intimacy coordinators who plan, consent-check and choreograph scenes before cameras roll.
Choreography, not improvisation
Aastha Khanna, one of a small but growing group of coordinators in India, compares the work to stunt direction. “Just like a stunt director handles a fight scene… for scenes of intimacy, we map out exactly where the hand goes and where the hair goes so nothing is left to awkward improvisation,” she told AFP.
The toolkit is deliberately practical. Coordinators arrive with modesty tools — crotch guards, nipple pasties and doughnut cushions — that let performers simulate intimacy while maintaining distance and reducing unnecessary contact.
Khanna says the work usually starts before casting wraps. “The idea is that actors know there are intimate scenes in the script and can decide whether they are comfortable with them before signing on.”
Streaming leads the shift
The clearest mainstream marker arrived with Gehraiyaan, backed by filmmaker Karan Johar and released on Amazon Prime Video in 2022. Khanna established boundaries and choreography on the film, while intimacy coach Neha Vyaso led workshops on physical dynamics and consent.
Streaming platforms, with fewer censorship constraints and a larger appetite for adult stories, have become the main drivers. “There’s much less censorship and more openness to stories that explore taboo subjects,” Vyaso said.
Crime drama Mirzapur shows the difference. Its early seasons were filmed without coordinators. Lead actor Rasika Dugal said initial seasons required actors to “navigate boundaries individually based on personal comfort,” and argued that coordinators ensure “nobody is violated in any way and everyone’s concerns are properly taken care of.”
Why it matters
Bollywood’s polished exterior long sat atop a chaotic backstage culture. Khanna points to instances where actors ended up kissing co-stars without consent. The #MeToo movement intensified scrutiny of such practices globally, giving producers a reason to formalise safeguards they once avoided.
Khanna also cautions against treating the discipline as merely about sex scenes. Intimacy direction can cover violence, dominance, harassment and nudity — situations with long emotional residue if mishandled. “The work that I do mitigates a situation where a person may go through several years of therapy and the scar may not heal,” she said.
What remains unresolved
- Only just over a dozen intimacy coordinators work across India’s film and television industries.
- There is no formal guideline or legal requirement to hire one.
- Many commercial blockbusters need little such work because major stars avoid explicit scenes, and some directors still manage intimate scenes themselves.
Some practitioners hope film associations will eventually adopt industry-wide standards. Until then, the protection an actor receives depends on the production they sign with.
Source: Malay Mail
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