What’s the reason for the bare-back photo shoot you did for Agnidev Chatterjee’s Charulata 2011?

It’s the kind of look I sport in the film. Charulata 2011 is inspired by Tagore’s Nashto Neer and my character Chaiti is married to a much older man (Arjun Chakraborty). Though there’s a lot of love and respect in the marriage, there’s no passion and she is sexually starved. She makes chat friends online and gets involved with a young man (Dibyendu).... I feel sensuous (in this look) and I think every woman should feel sensuous. It’s a positive attribute. I am inhibition-free but the scene I am doing should be aesthetic.

How would you define being inhibition-free?

It means to be able to balance between being a cerebral actress and a commercial heroine, who can do bold scenes in a dignified manner. Certain things are best left to the imagination. One doesn’t have to be vulgar to depict sex on screen. I too have done bold scenes but they’ve always had an aesthetic appeal. In Charulata 2011, nothing is shown explicitly but there’s a sexual undercurrent throughout.

Would you say ‘no’ to a film with explicit sex scenes?

I will discuss the scene with my director and suggest ways to shoot the scene without me having to go nude. Of course the director will have the final say, but I have to be convinced too. I have spent many years in this industry and I know an explicit sex scene can be done in many different ways. Besides, every actress doesn’t think nudity is necessary. I have done films like Chaturanga which were very bold subject-wise. Just skin show isn’t bold.