Slowly but steadily, actors finally seem to drop their inhibitions to do a full monty to get into the skin of their characters
For a film industry that once had flowers coming together to portray a kiss between the hero and the heroine, Bollywood seems to be going bolder by the day. While smooches and intimate scenes are no longer a taboo on TV or the celluloid, going buff for a movie seems to be child’s play for some of our actors. While there was buzz about Ranveer Singh going red as his dhoti ‘accidentally’ slipped to his feet during the making of 'Ram Leela', a few others have voluntarily shed their clothes — and fear — to get into the skin of their characters. Pun intended.u00a0
John Abraham
Film: 'New York' (2009)
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Skin-deep: For a prison sequence in the Kabir Khan film, John plays a suspected terrorist who is unjustly taken into custody owing to the religion he follows. During an interrogation scene, which involved a lot of brutality from the police’s end, the actor was butt-naked throughout. Speaking of which, the actor-producer flashed quite some inches of his famous posterior on a beach wearing nothing but a trunk in 'Dostana 2'.u00a0
Ranbir Kapoor
Film: 'Saawariya' (2007)
Skin-deep: According to cinematic clichés, the towel on an actress won’t drop, no matter what — even if she slips in the bathroom! There was no set parametre for a towel-clad actor though. Well, this was before a 25-year-old Ranbir dropped his clothing during a dreamy song sequence in one of Bhansali’s forgettable films.
Neil Nitin Mukesh
Film: 'Jail' (2009)
Skin-deep: Neil went a step ahead with this Madhur Bhandarkar film. He not only stood tall nude for a scene where he’s strip-searched by the jail officials but also enacted a sequence where his character seems to be masturbating.
Kunal Kapoor
Film: 'Rang De Basanti' (2006)
Skin-deep: In this Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra film, Kunal essays the poet-revolutionary Ashfaqullah Khan — deemed terrorist by the British Raj. In a prison scene, it’s evident that the character has been stripped off his clothes.
Rahul Bose
Film: 'Split Wide Open' (1999)
Skin-deep: Just before the end of the millennium, this Dev Benegal film showed Rahul’s character in the buff. On the topic, the actor once said : “I can drop my pants and my inhibitions because I'm not a conventional leading man. To the mainstream actors, the image is more important.”
Raj Kumaru00a0
Film: 'Shahid' (2013)
Skin-deep: The 'Kai Po Che!' actor will be next seen in a Hansal Mehta biopic. In the film, the eponymous rights activist-lawyer undergoes humiliation in a prison cell while being arrested under false charges. Raj decided to go naked for scenes where he is seen lying without clothes.
Almost there
Long before Salman Khan started dropping shirts and brought fitness into fashion, there were some leading heroes who seemed eager to take their clothes off but only to a certain extent.
>> 'Phool Aur Patthar' (1966) saw Dharmendra as a shirtless lover wooing Meena Kumari.
>> Feroz Khan turned out in a tighty-whitey swimsuit for 'Apradh' (1972).
>> His unpopular hirsute body didn’t stop Anil Kapoor from going shirtless in 'Janbaaz' (1986).
>> In RGV’s 'Rangeela' (1995), Jackie Shroff is seen in a pair of black swimming trunks frolicking on a beach.
Naked West
Thanks to the studios and their demanding scriptwriters, Hollywood has retained the culture of nudity in their movies. Not only actresses, even actors have often exhibited frontal nudity in films.
>> For a considerable part of Steve McQueen’s 'Shame' (2011), Michael Fassbender is seen butt naked.
>> Brad Pitt was in the buff in 'Fight Club' (1999). So were Christian Bale in 'American Psycho' (2000) and Edward Norton in 'American History X' (1998).
>> Leonardo DiCaprio was butt naked in a scene in 'The Aviator' (2004).u00a0
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