The Mastram Effect: Erotic cinema comes of age in India

With sex and sexuality being hush-hush topics in India, any film with some amount of ‘skin show’ generates curiosity, which, often transcends into ‘healthy’ box office receipts. After all, nothing sells like sex.

People still remember Mandakini’s shower act in Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Rekha’s bathing sequence in Girish Karnad’s sensuously crafted Utsav and Zeenat Aman’s cleavage show in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. In recent times, films such as Jism 2, Murder and B.A. Pass created waves online as well as in theatres.

The latest film to explore the theme of erotica is Akhilesh Jaiswal’s Mastram. A biopic of legendary Hindi porn writer, Mastram whose books were read by young men across India in the ’80s, the film tries to explore the writer’s conflict with his creative aspirations and society. The idea is novel with the trailer evoking interest among the Internet savvy audience. –

When fact meets fiction

Out in the open Akhilesh Jaiswal, the director of Mastram says, “Like many young North Indian men, I too grew up reading Mastram’s books. I used to wonder how this guy would be like and what would he be telling people about his profession. It was just a thought that later formed the base for my film. We did a lot of research but could not find any links to the ‘actual’ Mastram. Most of the old bookstalls that sold his stuff had shut shop or the owners had died, so I could not establish any contact.”

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