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FILM INTERVIEW: SHIV PANDIT

Actor Makes Bollywood Debut, Felt Comfortable in His Own Skin to Shoot Sex Scenes

By: Simran Mody

June 7, 2011

Shiv Pandit on buzzinebollywood.com Dibaker Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhoka opened the door for more sexual spice in Bollywood films. Apparently debutant actor Shiv Pandit sees nothing wrong with the infusion of sex into Hindi film, as he felt perfectly comfortable taking on the sex scenes with Kalki Koechlin in Bejoy Nambiar’s Shaitan, which is produced by Anurag Kashyap and also stars Rajeev Khandelwal, Gulshal Devaija, Ranjit Kapoor, and Kirti Kulhari.

“Kalki is very chilled out. She is one of the boys, not shy, and very straight forward. So that made shooting the intimate scenes a lot easier,” Mr. Pandit -- who had already established himself as a leading Tamil film star, radio personality, model, and Indian Premier League (IPL) host -- told the Indian media during his promotional campaign of Shaitan.

In making his first Bollywood appearance, Mr. Pandit appeared to be impressed with Shaitan as a script and a story, as the actor literally put himself through physical pain to bring to reality the tale of five young friends in a drunken stupor, causing innocent trouble in Mumbai.

A film delving into how something so seemingly innocent can take a proverbial turn for the dramatic worst, Mr. Pandit, who plays Dash, has the scars and bruises to show he took the film seriously. Perhaps audiences will be in a similar position -- mentally, of course.

“When Beejoy told me about the scene, I just went ahead and just started whipping myself. It was a very hot day, and I was so enthusiastic that I really hurt myself doing it. It was only the next day that I became all black and blue,” Mr. Pandit explained to the Indian press about some of one of the film’s grittiest scenes.

An average employee working a coffee shop during the day, Dash’s alter-ego takes to the streets after sundown as a drug dealer. Tackling his role in some of the busiest corners of Mumbai, Mr. Pandit really had very little control over how his body would respond to the demands of both the shoot and the film’s various locations.

“I got pretty beat up while shooting,” he candidly told the press. “We shot in very crowded places with small cameras, with the people crowding around not knowing that it was a movie being shot. We shot in basements and attics with not even enough space to stand up or sit down.”

Luckily, Mr. Pandit was not scared away by his first Bollywood project. Quite the contrary, despite the intense shooting environment, Mr. Pandit has put himself in a holding pattern to determine whether it is worthwhile to return to India’s most recognized film industry, or instead return to quite the comfy career in the country’s other lucrative cinema business in Kollywood.

His decision, Mr. Pandit confesses to the press, ultimately depends upon how well both he and the film are received by audiences after it opens in theaters and multiplexes around the world on June 11th.

“I am in no hurry to sign on my second film in Bollywood,” Mr. Pandit told the press. “I am also promoting my upcoming Tamil release Leelai. I want to see the audience’s reaction to Shaitan before signing another film.”

While he is sure to be happy either way, hopefully Bollywood audiences do respond favorably and indeed give Mr. Pandit a reason to return to Hindi cinema.

To help him make a decision, be sure to watch Shaitan on June 11th.