Sex Sells Everything, Everywhere
By Sumita M. Sheth

Does sex sell most things in most places? No, sex sells everything, everywhere. What is surprising is seeing who succumbs to its pressures.

Whereas once it was either the siren's role to show some skin or cabaret artistes like Helen doing special numbers in sexy outfits, in the new Bollywood cinema almost every heroine has to do some amount of disrobing to win herself a decent fan base, however indecent they may be.

Esha Deol, daughter of yesteryear heartthrobs Hema Malini and Dharmendra, set the screen on fire in her itty-bitty-showing-lots-of-t$tty dresses on her well-oiled body in the song "Dilbara" and the title hit “Dhoom” of the movie Dhoom. Whereas her mother Hema Malini prided herself on delivering smash hits in the 1970's without ever having to expose, this young debutante has found that a little exposure never hurts anyone. Esha Deol's first movie was Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe where she played the part of the nice virginal girl next door. Needless to say, it sank without a trace. Certain people claim to be shocked by Esha Deol’s recent skin-baring but the exposure is done tastefully and the ticket-buying public is definitely voting in Esha'a favor.

In a similar manner, model turned actress Bipasha Basu’s acting career was also only salvaged after her intimate scenes with boyfriend John Abraham in Jism. But again, as she is quick to point out - she is sexy without taking all her clothes off in front of the camera, unlike Mallika Sherawat and Sameera Reddy. However, exposing herself to the fullest has not hurt Mallika Sherawat in the least - she was taken note of at the recent Cannes festival and included in a list of the “World’s Beauties” amongst the likes of Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Naomi Campbell!

If we just look back to the 1980s, even Madhuri Dixit underwent an image change with the "Ek, Do, Teen" dance number, before catapulting from the sweet innocent ladki to the hottest top of the charts diva.

Kajol, always lauded for her acting skills in Bollywood, also played her initial roles perfectly sensually. Her wardrobe was always a little titillating starting with movies like Bekhudi and Baazigar. So not only was she noticed for her acting skills, but also her voluptuous figure.

Another newcomer with a pedigree, Soha Ali Khan, whose mother is Sharmila Tagore, father the famous Tiger Pataudi and brother Saif Ali Khan, insists that she will never expose. Although her mother Sharmila Tagore did risqué (for that era at least) song sequences for An Evening in Paris opposite Shammi Kapoor, Soha plans on building her career with her acting and hard work alone. Clearly after her first movie Dil Maange More that bombed, she may want to rethink selling abstinence in Bollywood. But for now, with a couple of big releases lined-up for later this year, it looks like she is waiting to see which way the audience decides about her. Even Abhishek Bachchan, also leveraging all his family clout, only worked out his groove after about movie number 10. He didn’t indulge in any skin-show to achieve this. But then he’s a boy and the Bollywood rules seem to differ for them.

Ultimately, we must admit that sex is necessary to add reality to film. Not all women go covered from head to toe, spurning lovers’ sexual advances; couples don’t just lip synch and run around Swiss locales when they are in love. Yes there is romance in love, but we mustn’t forget that there is also a whole lot of lust and sex in love. In Hollywood, directors show lusty scenes to add some spice to their already strong storylines, whether it be Goldie Hawn with her derriere in Bird on a Wire, Uma Thurman’s nude scene with John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons, Kate Winslet disrobing for The Titanic, Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro or Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain; and it’s not just the girls, guys like Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Will Smith also get in on it. The list goes on and on. While Hollywood actors are not shy about baring it all onscreen, Bollywood ones seem revved-up to catch-up. Anything for true art. Or, what is more likely the truth – Anything for kick-ass box office sales.