Adult content in Bengali cinema: II
2011: Paoli Dam becomes a cunning linguist
‘Yes, I was completely nude’: Munibor France | India IbnLive The Times of India
In 2011 Paoli Dam pushed the boundary even further. Not only did she go completely naked in Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara’s controversial Chhatrak (Mushroom in English/ 2011), the scene involved oral sex. The film had a red carpet screening at Cannes’ 64th International Film Festival and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
She described the sequence thus to Munibor, ‘See, it’s a full nude scene and I have done it because I was convinced that the scene is required to take the story forward. It isn’t there just to titillate. Incidentally my character’s name too is Paoli in the film! Now Paoli’s boyfriend (Sudip Mukherjee) lives far away and to fill the vacuum she gets physically involved with a young guy (Anubrata)… and indulges in oral sex! ... I was completely nude. So was my co-star and in the scene the girl is getting all the pleasure! ...We don’t wear clothes and make love, do we? Then why should we do that in cinema? Ei nyakamogulo aar koto din (How long will we carry on like this)?’
Paoli Dam did the scene though she knew that the Indian censor board would not allow it and that that particular scene would be available only on DVD. The scene was not shown at the Cannes screening either.
After Chhatrak Paoli Dam received an offer to act in Italian director Italo Spinelli’s Choli Ke Peechhe ,which she rejected because “the sex scene there was forced and [she] was not convinced.” Actresses Nandana Sen and Shahana Goswami, too, had turned down the role.
Paoli describes herself as a very traditional girl who grew up in a joint family and had a very good academic record, She could have pursued academics. It was her mother who encouraged her to take up acting. Paoli is a post-graduate in Chemistry and attracted attention in Gautam Ghose’s Kaalbela.
Jayasundara is an alumnus of Film and Television Institute, Pune. In 2005 he became the first Sri Lankan filmmaker to win the Camera d'Or at Cannes for his film The Forsaken Land.
Chhatrak came at a heavy price for Paoli, especially in the Bengali the film industry. Not only did she lose friends because of the nude scene, she lost film roles. Her name was officially removed from the publicity materials of Pritam Sarkar’s Flop-e because its makers felt that her newfound sex-bomb image could harm the commercial prospects of 'Flop-e'.
