I can’t forget Simi’s topless shot: Pooja Bhatt

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First, there was talk of Sunny Leone signing up for "Jism 2". Now the buzz surrounding the movie has just got bigger with the release of the film's first look. Pooja Bhatt, the director of the film, has met Sunny on Tuesday evening. But the adult star hasn't yet signed on the dotted line. Meanwhile Pooja, along with dad Mahesh Bhatt, is in Darjeeling to attend a film festival to decide if she can shoot her movie there.

Before Sunny signs on the movie, Pooja has revealed the first look of her movie. While the "Jism" poster with Bipasha Basu's honey-coated legs was the toast of the country some nine years ago, this new look from "Jism 2" has everyone guessing about who the girl is in the poster. Pooja, right now, is mum on who the girl is. Ask her if the veiled woman is Sunny Leone and she just smiles. "I don't wish to reveal who the girl is till I have everything on paper. When I shot this poster, I was sure I wanted it to be sensual. The question that most men are asking after seeing the first look was whether the girl in the poster is naked or not. For me, that's not important because after a point, the flesh doesn't really matter. It's about the soul. There has been too much of talk about Sunny doing my film or the one with Salman. I don't wish to say anything till I've signed my cast," she says.

Pooja takes pride in designing the poster the way she has, while keeping the intrigue factor alive. "Spielberg says the difference between erotica and porn is the lighting. I say, it's the gaze. I think, there is an essential difference between the way a man and a woman looks at a human body. That's the
difference that one sees when one looks at two movies - "Murder" that my father made with Anurag Basu and "Jism" that my dad did with me. I am very proud of a movie like "Murder" and what it raked in at the box office. But the way I visualized Bipasha and treated sensuality is very different from what Anurag did in this movie. Bipasha, in "Jism", was a woman who was in complete control of her body and sensuality," she explains.
Pooja has no problems with cleavage but she says, "It's a fact that "Dhoom" had more cleavage than "Jism". However, people talked about the sensuality in "Jism" and they were engaged with the heroine who said the body doesn't know love. It only knows lust. Even now, it suits people if such women die as villains. As my father says, in India, good people fall in love and bad people have sex. If that were true, I wouldn't know what to fathom about our population count though. Even today, whether it's a journo from Harvard or a ganglord or an entrepreneur, men still get so tongue-tied and
uncomfortable with the female form."
So, what does Pooja think Sunny's impact is on men? "I met her and she intimidates people. Yet, there is an innocence in her face. However, I didn't want to reveal a face when I designed the poster of "Jism 2". There have been so much of speculation over who the lead actor in my film is. From Bipasha to Mallika or even the dhobi's neighbour, names were being tossed up right, left and centre. While I wanted to whet their appetite further with this poster, I also wanted to establish a fact that eventually it's the franchise that's more important than the face. People don't sell movies any more. It's the brand that matters. That's what had happened to "Ashique" too, where no face of the actors were shown and yet the movie got packed houses. This poster can have anyone there and it will only enhance the brand and vice versa."

So, how is "Jism 2" taking forward the film from where Bipasha had left it behind? "The movie goes beyond the body. Even as exciting and earth-shattering Bipasha was in the film, she still became a one dimensional character. In "Jism 2", the lead actor is both a femme fatale, a mother and a sex worker and is allowed to exist in grey areas without being apologetic about it. "Jism 2" will embrace darkness because only by doing that can one see light," Pooja adds.
So, which is the most sensual movie in Pooja's eyes? "When I look back, I can't think of anything more sensual than David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago". Kim Basinger in "Nine 1/2 Weeks" is very sensual too. In India, it had to be Zeenat Aman in "Satyam Shivam Sundaram". Then, there was this topless picture of Simi Garewal that was my first memory of Indian erotica from "Siddhartha". However, nothing can hold a candle to "Jism". I'd still say, India needs a new fantasy."

Considering that she is in Darjeeling now, does she plan to shoot the film there? "Just as Puducherry offered the right backdrop for "Jism", I am looking for a place with a unique character for "Jism 2". I will zero in on a place only if it suits the movie not because people are offering us infrastructural facilities. I was there in Darjeeling in 1978 when my father was shooting "Lahu Ke Do Rang" with Shabana Azmi, Vinod Khanna and Danny Denzongpa. I had also gone to shoot "Chor Aur Chand" there with Aditya Pancholi. That's where I had met a newly-married Shah Rukh and Gauri. He was shooting there for "Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman". Gauri still had her wedding bangles on when we met. I will be there in Darjeeling for a couple of days. If I find the location suitable, I will
definitely shoot there," she signs off.