India is a sex-obsessed country: Mahesh Bhatt

India is a sex-obsessed country: Mahesh Bhatt

Indians love sex. They love everything related to sex and the box office figures of our films like Raaz, Murder and Jism speak for themselves. Jism 2, which was made on a 6-crore budget, did business of '36 crore in its opening weekend itself. We have made a bunch of serious films as well like Awarapan and Jashn, but they flopped. Un sab movies ka combined business will not come close to even the toenail of the business that this film has done. This proves that we Indians love erotica.

But sex is still considered to be a taboo in Indian society.

That is because the Indian audience is hypocritical. They want sex, but they want it through the back door. We don't want people to tell us to our face that we like sex. The sexuality of The Dirty Picture was acceptable because Vidya (Balan) was playing Silk - the movie was a biopic - but you can't deal directly with sexuality, as it goes against the idea of your being an Indian.

The perfect example of this hypocrisy came to the fore when Jism 2 released. Before its release, people were saying 'you are spoiling our culture by bringing in a po*n star' and 'showing erotic stuff', etc, and after its release they accused the film of not being erotic enough. I mean make up your mind - what do you want?

The audience here cannot come to terms with the fact that they have an appetite for sex. I believe, India has moved from repression to obsession. Under the British, we were repressed. Now, even though we are free, we are obsessed - obsessed with sex, with flesh, with white skin and so many other things; India is a sex-obsessed country.

Is that the reason why you shifted from meaningful cinema (Arth, Daddy, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin) to erotic thrillers (Raaz, Jism, Murder)?

Don't mix the two. Keep me separate from the kind of films that I made in the 80s and 90s and the kind of films that my production house now makes. When I made films, they were a by-product of that era, they were rooted in that culture at that time, but now, as a producer, I make films that cater to my constituency of young people, my target audience that belong to an under-25 age group.

Cinema now can't be just about introspection and atma manthan; such topics won't work. Films have to appeal to youngsters - it has to have tamasha, drama and sensationalism. Just like Ghulam Ali saab can't change his style of singing - he can't start singing at a fast pace - so an Atif Aslam is born. He is the singer of today, as he caters to the audience of today. Similarly, the kind of films that I used to make won't work now. Vikram or Kunal (Deshmukh) are contemporary directors. They can better handle films of today. I was once great. But that was during my era.

Is that why you stopped directing?

Yes, because I knew it. I knew this time will come when people will not understand the films that I made during the 80s and 90s. The audience today is different.

And is it to cater to this audience - the under-25 age group - that every Emraan Hashmi movie under your banner has to have a kissing or a lovemaking scene?

You cannot disappoint ardent fans of Emraan by not including kissing scenes. They expect certain attributes in his films and kissing is one of them. Emraan is a great performer and enjoys a huge fan following, but whether he likes it or not, erotica is his constituency, people love him for that.