'Jism' to 'Julie 2': When Bollywood went bold with its content

Bollywood is breaking the shackles of the old preconceived notions and is slowly but gradually moving towards more experimental, liberal and bold cinema. Not only have the filmmakers, but also the audience has become more open towards this approach. From ‘Jism’ to the recent ‘Julie 2’, the Indian film industry has indeed come a long way.
We take a look at the number of times Bollywood went bold with its content...

'Jism' marked the debut of Bollywood hunk John Abraham opposite bombshell, Bipasha Basu. Directed by Amit Saxena, the 2003 flick was an erotic thriller which highlighted the darker side of women that was previously untouched by Bollywood.

Bipasha Basu was the shows stealer, with her sexy looks and seductive deep voice, she made up for the most impressive femme fatale since Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi.

With ‘Jism’, Mahesh Bhatt delved into an area that many feared to tread, thus paving way for many to follow.

An erotic Hindi film, ‘Julie’ was directed by Deepak Shivdasani and featured actors Neha Dhupia, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Yash Tonk, Sanjay Kapoor and Achint Kaur.

The film shows a transition of a small town girl to a high-class prostitute in a metropolis. Although it has a few sex-laden sequences, most of the explicit scenes kept up with the demand of the subject.

Neha Dhupia once said that only sex and Shah Rukh Khan sells in Bollywood. Well, the lady created quite a furor among the moral police with her controversial film poster that showed her entire back. Neha faced a lot of criticism for this poster and her bold role.

Directed by Anurag Basu, ‘Murder’ was an erotic thriller that featured Emraan Hashmi, Mallika Sherawat and Ashmit Patel in lead roles. Though the film received an ‘A’ certificate from the Censor Board, with mixed reviews, it still managed to become a success at the box office.

The songs of the movie went on rule the charts for a long time. It inspired many series in the franchise and also proved to be a great breakthrough for its lead actors Emraan and Mallika.

While ‘Jism’ gave Bollywood John Abraham and Bipasha Basu, the sequel, ‘Jism 2’ marked the debut of Sunny Leone. Compared to the first installment, the sequel was high in sexual content. Directed by Pooja Bhatt, the film also starred Randeep Hooda, Arunoday Singh, and Arif Zakaria.

While Mahesh Bhatt claimed that this movie boldly broke through India’s stodgy old Victorian morals, its salacious content was criticised and disapproved.

Directed by debutant Ajay Bahl, 'B.A. Pass' starred Shilpa Shukla, Shadab Kamal, Rajesh Sharma, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya in lead roles. The neo-noir film was based on the 2009 short story ‘The Railway Aunty’ by Mohan Sikka.

It is not too often that a woman’s openness about her sexuality has been explored in Bollywood movies. This film is an attempt in the same direction. The film was a success both critically and commercially and also bagged many accolades in both mainstream and various film festivals.

'Hate Story' was an erotic thriller directed by Vivek Agnihotri which featured Nikhil Dwivedi, Gulshan Devaiya and Paoli Dam in lead roles. The premise of the film chronicles around a woman and her struggle to fight against the man who betrayed her.

Sex has been a controversial subject in Indian cinema and this film created a storm apart from courting controversy when it was released, not to forget its drama with the censor board.

The film’s poster featuring Paoli flaunting her bare back was also a much talked about subject when it released. It paved the way for more such bold posters in Bollywood.

After etching itself in the minds of the audiences through their first installment, Vishal Pandya took up the reigns of the sequel 'Hate Story 2'. The film is about a woman who takes revenge on a powerful corrupt politician who abused her and left her for dead.

The film had Surveen Chawla as its protagonist who certainly took things a notch higher with her acting prowess and sexy bold avatar. The film marked her first full-fledged role in Bollywood. The intimate scenes in the movie created a lot of buzz, with its lip-locks and steamy love making scene. Overall, the film did grab some eye balls but failed to make an impact.

With the every next installment, the focus shifted from its story line and content to some more steamy sexual scenes. 'Hate Story 3', directed by Vishal Pandya, had an unusual casting of Sharman Joshi, Karan Singh Grover, Daisy Shah and Zareen Khan in the lead roles.

Although content wise, it had nothing to be proud of, it created a buzz for its steamy scenes and songs.

After his debut in 2003 with ‘Jism’, Amit Saxena’s next outing ‘Nasha’ was an Indian teen coming of age film. Starring Poonam Pandey and debutant Shivam Patil, the film is about an 18-year-old boy falling in love with his 25-year-old teacher.

The poster of the film was considered to be vulgar and derogatory. It triggered protests in Mumbai where mobs tore the posters and set them ablaze.
The film gained mixed critical responses from all over.

Yet another erotic thriller by Vikram Bhatt, 'Love Games' stared Patralekha, Gaurav Arora and Tara Alisha Berry in lead roles. The film is about a pair of nymphomaniacs competing in seducing couples to have sexual relations with them.

The film is high on bold and sexual scenes. Patralekha surprised everyone with her bold avatar in terms of her physical appearance as well as over the usage of swear words.
Director Vikram Bhatt had reportedly said that the film is extremely personal and was inspired by his life story.

Helmed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni, ‘Hunterrr’ is a Hindi adult comedy starring actors Gulshan Devaiah, Radhika Apte and Sai Tamhankar in lead roles. The film revolves around an unassuming sex addict and his lustful journey in life.

Before the movie released, it created a lot of buzz due to its poster that shows a sex addict (Gulshan) cuddling three women in a banana. Keeping in mind its subject, its raunchy posters seemed justified and the film garnered enough critical acclaim.

After a long wait, Deepak Shivdasani is back with the sequel of his critically acclaimed film ‘Julie’. Marking her debut in Bollywood, it features Raai Laxmi in the lead role.

The makers released the teaser trailer for the film raising the anticipation even more. The short video clip sees Raai Laxmi in all her glory and gives an inside sneak peek into what one can expect from the story.

Speaking about the film, Raai Laxmi had said that although the film will have a lot of skin show, it will be high on content and relatable at the same time.

Laxmi is a well-known name down south and has a number of films to her credit.