Vishal Bhardwaj Recalls Actresses’ Awkward Questions About An Intimate Scene: ‘Sir, Are We Going to Use Tongue?’ (EXCLUSIVE)

For Vishal Bhardwaj, working with an intimacy director has changed how intimate scenes are approached on a film set. The ‘Lust Stories 3’ director, whose film stars real-life couple Aditi Rao Hydari and Sidharth, says the presence of an intimacy director not only makes performers more comfortable but also takes away much of the awkwardness traditionally associated with filming such sequences.

“It is incredible. It liberates you. It makes things so comfortable to shoot,” Bhardwaj says, adding that intimacy directors can make the entire process easier for everyone involved.

“Otherwise, it was odd when we used to shoot the intimate scenes. These intimacy directors make your life so comfortable on set,” he says.

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Recalling how such conversations were handled before intimacy directors became more commonplace, Bhardwaj remembers actresses having to ask directly how an intimate scene would be performed. “I remember actresses coming to me and asking, ‘Sir, are we going to use tongue in this? Can you ask the male actor?’ I mean, it’s very odd,” he recalls taking that question to the male actor. “I did ask him her question. Can you imagine how awkward that would be?”

His experience on “Lust Stories 3” also came with another interesting first: directing Aditi Rao Hydari and Sidharth, a real-life couple, in an intimate story.

Bhardwaj acknowledges that their existing relationship helped eliminate some of the awkwardness of working together. “They were very comfortable with each other, of course, you know, because they are husband and wife. So 50% of that awkwardness went away,” he says.

But their real-life chemistry did not necessarily make every aspect of the shoot easier. Bhardwaj says his clean, precise visual style sometimes created situations where the actors themselves had to step in to ensure the shots felt authentic.

He recalls one sequence involving a body double. “We had doubles for both of them. So in one shot, you know, we had the camera on her legs, and Sidharth had to crawl,” he says. But when Aditi saw the footage, she immediately objected to using the double. “When Aditi saw it, she said, ‘But my legs are not so fat,’” Bhardwaj recalls. She then insisted on performing the shot herself. Sidharth, too, was willing to step in, with Bhardwaj describing him as “very professional.”

For him, it was also new territory as a filmmaker. “I was also working with a real-life couple like that for the first time in my life,” he says. The most interesting part of directing the real-life couple, Bhardwaj says, was watching them separate their personal relationship from their professional performances. “In terms of performance, they were behaving like they left their relationships at home. That was a lovely thing to explore,” he says.

'Lust Stories 3' is now streaming on Netflix.