The NSFW edition - Shoes, Radio, and Test Looks | #169
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Hello friends
Indian pop culture has always had a tadka of risqué elements that have kept audiences intrigued and the moral police on their toes. The recent glut of adult-oriented films and shows on streaming platforms may have normalised the sex scene on screen (that’s a new tongue twister), but this wasn’t always the case
This week's newsletter marks our 1-69th edition, and channeling our inner mischievous teenagers, we've chosen to explore some risqué moments from Indian pop-culture. Mild NSFW warning.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
In 1995, a Tuff shoes advertisement in India created significant stir, particularly among the conservative community and regulatory bodies. The ad starred models Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre, alongside a python. Adorned only in Tuff shoes, these impeccably fit models, both former champion athletes, embraced one another, subtly conveying the message: "Tuff shoes for Tough athletes." The campaign was targeted at the export market and Tuff wanted to have an international style campaign. But they didn’t have the budget for a TV campaign so instead decided on a print campaign. The intent was to shoot the models as scriptures and this led to the iconic pic in the buff. There were other ads in the campaign, which didn’t attract anywhere near the scrutiny that the single ad got. It was tough times for buff people in tuff shoes.
Some of the other ads from the Tuffs shoes campaign How do you generate “buzz” for your film a few months before the release? Aamir Khan, the master of promotion, dropped a poster of himself in the nude with a radio covering his private parts for the film PK. Though the film was cleared by the censor board, the poster itself attracted PIL’s from various organizations demanding that the poster be removed. The picture was shot on location in Rajasthan on a deserted railway track, with limited crew amid maximum security - the crew had to deposit phones and laptops at a hotel, two hours away. All this worked, as PK emerged as the highest grossing Indian film of all time within weeks of its release. It takes a strategically placed radio to tune into box office success!
Directed by Raj Kapoor, "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" is a film that delves into the theme of the superficiality of physical beauty versus the purity of the soul. Starring Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman, the film portrays the love story between an engineer and a village girl who hides a facial disfigurement. The film drew attention for what was considered a racy portrayal of women. The film drew significant attention even before its completion, and subsequently, a lawsuit was lodged against Raj Kapoor, accusing them of 'compromising moral values and severely undermining public decency'. Recently Zeenat Aman posted on instagram her test look - Raj Kapoor was concerned that Zeenat Aman had a western look and wanted to know if she would be accepted as a village girl. They shot a small reel picturised on the famous song ‘Jaago Mohan Pyare’ from the 1956 film Jagte Raho. Raj Kapoor then held a screening of the reel at RK Studios to gauge the response of his distributors to Zeenat Aman in this role. The rights for all territories were sold immediately.
Zeenat Aman’s test look
From IWTK, with love 💌
Only In India 🇮🇳
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