Naomi Campbell at the official screening of the Cohen brothers’ film Ladykillers at the Cannes Film Festival. (AFP)

Cannes, May 18: Indo-French film collaboration is to move from art house movies into unchartered waters now that a secret plan has been drawn up to shoot Emmanuelle in India, it was revealed in Cannes today.

For those uninitiated in the ways of the sexually adventurous Frenchwoman, Emmanuelle is the series conceived of and owned by the French filmmaker Alain Siritzky.

Now that Emmanuelle has travelled all over the world and even made a foray into space, Siritzky believes it is high time she got a visa for India. His preference, though, is to shoot the film with an Indian girl whose name is “transformed into Emmanuelle” as the plot progresses. At Cannes, Siritzky has been holding talks with potential Indian writers and Indian-owned companies, including Jag Mundhra Films and Kama Sutra, another production house.

Los Angeles-based Jag Mundhra confirmed he had been approached and said he would be willing to direct such a project. “I am a gun for hire,” he declared.

Asked whether or not he had left behind his earlier career as a maker of “adult movies”, especially after persuading the exacting Nandita Das to act in Bawandar, Jag Mundhra said: “Jagmohan Mundhra is different from Jag Mundhra Films.”

He added: “Jag Mundhra Films has to feed Jagmohan Mundhra.”

An informed source, who asked not to be identified, disclosed: “Locations in India would include beds, in fact anywhere where you can make love, from palaces to slums.”

The original Emmanuelle was played by the elegant French actress, Sylvia Kristel, but others took over the role as she grew older. The brand name travelled to many parts of the world, including southeast Asia, the US and Latin America. Siritzky feels that India is the last frontier.

But would it be possible to shoot sex scenes in India, where the entire crew would demand to be present at all times? “Don’t worry, Jag Mundhra is a past master at shooting sex scenes,” the source assured The Telegraph.

When Emmanuelle first hit the screens, it was condemned as soft-porn by critics but the film was defended by some feminists who argued that women had as much right as men to express and indeed enjoy their sexuality.

“Siritzky wants to see how far the boundaries of Indian sexuality can be stretched,” said the source. “On balance he would want Emmanuelle to be Indian. With a generous budget, the locations can be extravagant.”