Ankita and Sagnik get up close in Aagunpakhi; Ankita the tribal girl

It’s the season of dare-bare acts in Tollywood. After Chandan Kaminey Roy Sanyal’s nude-behind-the-laptop/guitar scene in Suman Mukhopadhyay’s Mahanagar@Kolkata (which releases this Friday), Shrreya Pande, Sagnik and Ankita have done it for Subhrajit Mitra’s July release Aagunpakhi. The film, based on the Maoist movement, was censored with an ‘A’ certificate last week.

“Aagunpakhi got an ‘A’ certificate without any cuts because the censor board felt the film was for a mature audience. For television screening, of course, they have given a U/A certificate,” said Subhrajit, who was worried that the censor board might object to “the brutal rape scene and nudity”.

“There’s a rape scene where Shrreya Pande, half draped in a sari and almost topless, is being dragged by a man. I haven’t shown the rape but only the prelude, which I think is quite scary,” said Subhrajit. “Then there’s a love-making scene between Sagnik and Ankita in the nude. It’s crucial to the film. It justifies Ankita’s character who is a tribal woman. She has no dialogues in the film.”

For Sagnik, baring his torso was no big deal. “I was very comfortable though I didn’t have a shred of cloth on me. But Ankita, who was topless, was a little uneasy. We became comfortable after 11 retakes! It was an essential scene,” said Sagnik.

“Subhrajit had screen-tested 11 girls before zeroing in on me. I was very nervous initially but when I saw Sagnik so comfortable in his skin, I became relaxed too,” said Ankita.

Subhrajit assured her that the act wouldn’t be in-your-face: “We have mostly taken long shots with little lights in the forest. It was a moonlit night and the area had been condoned off,” he said.