I'm conservative at heart, says Rohit Roy

Actor Rohit Roy is a relieved man after his controversial love scenes with Sangeeta Ghosh in Star TV's soap "Viraasat" were chopped off and re-shot. "Sangeeta and I had to re-shoot a lot of the love scenes as it was found to be too steamy for Indian television. I think I'm more relieved than disappointed," Roy told IANS.

"My wife watches 'Viraasat' with my baby. Going by how elaborately we had shot those scenes, I'd have squirmed when they came on. I guess I'm not as cool as people think me to be. I'm conservative at heart."

According to Roy, the love scenes in this kitschy portable version of "Romeo & Juliet" were re-shot to be "more romantic and less sexy".

"I find them much more watchable now."

However, STAR's Senior Creative Director Shailja Kejriwal has a totally different take on the expunged scenes.

"We had to re-shoot a vital wedding night sequence in 'Viraasat' featuring Rohit and Sangeeta, not because it was too steamy but because it was unaesthetic and ugly. The scene had been shot clumsily. We put in some candles, made the gestures between the couple more graceful," said Shailja.

So are Indian viewers ready for sex on television?

"Why not?" retorted Shailja.

"But it has to be done aesthetically. See, with a show like 'Viraasat', we at STAR are trying to break away from the habitual soap mould. It's unlike anything we've done so far. Even our new show 'Thodisi Zameen Thoda Aasman' is an endeavour to touch the realistic core on television."