here is one 2002 article on it...
The Coy Game
Chaya UnnikrishnanPosted online: Friday, November 08, 2002 at 0000 hours IST or a long time, sensuality or scenes with sexual overtones were covetly expressed on the small screen. Even if it was an integral part of a story, directors resorted to suggestive scenes to convey the message. The usual props like rain and thunder, turning off the lights, snuggling behind closed doors, drawing up the sheets, etc hinted at physical intimacy between the lovers. It was with the advent of Zee TV and serials like Tara, Banegi Apni Baat, Kurukshetra and Hasratein that seductive scenes came to be incorporated expansively. Tara, probably, led the way with a bold and blatant storyline. A lip-to-lip kiss between Alok Nath and Navneet Nishan sealed the love between them in the serial. Recalling the kissing scene, Vinta Nanda, writer, Tara says, "It was part of the story line. Whatever we projected in Tara was not for the sake of doing it, that's the reason none of our artistes had problem portraying the scenes." The kiss was just one aspect of Tara which throbbed on showing women smoking, drinking and wearing minis. It also had tracks of extra-marital affair and live-in relationships. This mother of all bold serials was a channel-driver for Zee. The other serial that had kisses and seductive scenes galore was Banegi Apni Baat. Set in a college campus, the serial openly discused condoms, sex and sexuality. As Deeya Singh, producer says, "The brief given to us by the channel then, was everythng from p***les to pre-marital sex should be covered in the serial." The story was woven around this concept and what emerged was four kisses and a lovemaking scene in the most popular serial of its times. The first kiss was quite innocent with Rahul planting one on Riya's lips just to win a bet. The other kisses happened at a weekend bash where an intoxicated Ritu smooches her boyfriend who is also high, Priya tries to ease Rajat's pain with a gawky peck on the lip and Rahul kisses Riya passionately to convey his love. Besides this, a hot scene between Nikita wearing a shirt and Karan was picturised at the swimming pool. Recalls Deeya, "We did not deliberatly incorporate the scenes, it followed the character's storyline." But the one serial that sensationalised the smooch was Kurukshetra. The serial was about corporate warfare with Seema Kapoor and Parmeet Sethi playing adversaries. Seema, who had a vampish role, had to seduce Parmeet and get important information out of him. Parmeet, who knows her intentions, plays along. At one point, he pulls her and plants a kiss right on her lips. The celebrated kiss was the talk of the town for many weeks. Talking about it, Seema says, "I distincly remember the day when we shot the scene. When I arrived on the sets, I could feel tension in the air. Lekh Tandonji who was the director was being vague about the scene while narrating it to me. I thought it would be a peck on the cheek but to my shock it was a kiss on the lips. It was not all that long, it took just a few seconds but the media hyped it no end." And no, she doesn't regret it, on the contrary "I enjoyed it," she says non-chalantly. Dinesh Bansal, who produced Kurukshetra, claims that he was the first one to show a kiss on the small screen. "It was a well-picturised romantic scene but the media publicised it as a 24 hours kiss!" One serial that indulged in heavyduty lovemaking scenes shocking the viewers was Hasratein. The serial revolved around extra-marital affair and within the first four episodes only there was a hot bedroom scene between a married Himani Shivpuri and her lover. Later on, in the same serial a passionate meeting was shown between Seema Kapoor and Harsh Chhaya. It's a song sequence and Seema comes out of the bathroom, suggestively nude and runs into Harsh Chhaya. What follows is a steamy love scene. Ajai Sinha, who produced Hasratein, points out that the serial was about carnal desires and there was no way he couldn't avoid it. "In any case I feel scenes with hidden meaning are more vulgar," he justifies. In another of his serials Justajoo, Ajai portrayed a scene of seduction between Harsh Chhaya and Arpita. "Harsh Chhaya, who is married to Pallavi Joshi, falls in love with his sister-in-law Arpita. She is also attracted to him. They had to drop their inhibition for the story to move ahead and a lovemaking scene between them was shown to that affect," he explains. Strangely enough, despite their popularity, seductive scenes went out of fashion once these serials were over. Family dramas came to rule the tube and as Dinesh puts it, "We realised that television is viewed mainly by women and they are not very comfortable with seductive scenes. That's the reason we switched over to serials with joint families." With Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, anything to do with sexuality was relegated to the bedroom behind closed doors. That was two years ago. Recently, however, they showed a suggestive smooching scene between Gomzee and Tisha. That is just the beginning. The recently launched serials are slowly and surely getting into the forbidden territory all over again. For instance, in Lipstick, there was a lovemaking scene between Sagar and Aparna, where the girl is playfully seducing the guy. Another steamy scene is up next month. Says Shristi Arya, producer, Lipstick, "It is a part of our story and will be shot between Aly Khan and Nigar." Promoted as an adult night soap, Lipstick promised to be a hot, hot serial but has been quite tame. According to Shristi, the serial depicts the lifestyle of the rich and the famous where they are open about their sensuality. Yet they had to concentrate on the track of Sunidhi, a middle-class girl ruled by middle-class morals. "We were getting letters favouring her character and we had to follow viewer feedback," she admits.
Serials like Love Marriage, Kittie Party and Kkusum are tracing bold storylines but seduction is only briefly 'touched' upon.
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