Intimacy Directors Are Creating Safer Environments In The Indian Film Industry

Art imitates a sliver of reality that engulfs us and in this act of representing and recreating the complexities of human life in an artistic form, film as a medium has historically proven to be effective. We often find pieces of ourselves in the characters, stories, and narratives that we witness on the big screen and it is no news that film tries to most accurately gauge and visually represent the workings of the human psyche.

Film can also be regarded as an orchestrated portrayal of human life where the story unfolds with rehearsed and guided directions. While several genres have steered away from the tangibilities of real life in the form of fantasy and surrealism, it is the stories of everyday life that are the hardest to perfect.

With a new wave of Indian cinema that is attempting to take bold strides towards exposing the human condition and its fallacies through flawed characters and imperfect storylines, it is only natural that every visual portrayed must be supervised to perfection and explored in the most objective way possible.

In this respect, a brand new form of film specialists are being demanded on sets. These intimacy directors, as they are called, are trained professionals who guide and choreograph intimate scenes for every movie.

Intimacy directors/choreographers are hired to ensure authenticity during specific moments of intimacy in scenes between actors while actively ensuring safety, comfort, and ease. As any performer would tell you, achieving a level of intimacy with a co-actor and colleague can be tricky and the role of an intimacy director is to actively aid in facilitating a secure and trouble-free experience for the crew.

While the trend of an intimacy choreographer in a country like India might be relatively new, Hollywood and other film industries in the West have been hiring them for quite a while now, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement where the idea of an intimacy director became more imperative than ever.

The role was initially created as a response to unwarranted advances that several actors experiences while shooting an intimate scene on set. There was almost an instant need to have such environments controlled and rehearsed in a manner that could be followed by all the actors present and the crew included.

A popular Hollywood film in the 90s, Basic Instinct was one of the earliest films to report such a miscommunication regarding an intimate scene. The lead actress, Sharon Stone only recently revealed her utter discomfort while performing certain scenes which put her in a comprising light.

While industries in the west soon addressed this issue and developed a role for a mediator in the future, it was not until the #MeToo movement in 2018 that India had even heard of such a job title.

India’s first intimacy choreographer: Aastha Khanna

Just as the winds of change arrived in India much later, assistant director Aastha Khanna was already deep into researching how intimate scenes can be viewed as narrative tools to make the process seamless and comfortable.

Khanna then went on to complete a course on intimacy direction from the Intimacy Professionals Association (IPA) to become the first certified Intimacy choreographer in India.

Much like stunt/action scenes where a make-up artist or stunt director’s tool kit comes in handy, an intimacy director too has a tool kit of their own. This could include athletic guards for male actors, skin coloured tapes for coverage, sanitary napkins, silicon bras, strapless panties and more.

Khanna’s role extends beyond the confines of a sexual scene. Her expertise also aids any scenes that involve childbirth, LGBTQIA+ stories or even item songs where the actor is not particularly comfortable with the outfits that he/she/they are expected to wear. The idea of intimacy is vast and Khanna’s study deep-dives into it.

With the rise of a liberal expression of intimacy on screen in Indian cinema today, it is more imperative than ever to establish a safe space to facilitate the process of the performers and directors like Aastha are blazing a trail for the future of secure and effective filmmaking.

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