All the top actors in Bollywood today have smooched with few A-list films having as many as 21 smooches, and I am surprised they are 'family' films! Hypocrisy.
So, I was in for a shock, a rude one at that; when one of the actresses that agreed to do smooching scenes; on the shoot, asked me how many smooching scenes are there? My mistake was I didn't meet the actress, before casting her! A grave mistake, because I was so tense during the entire shoot schedule, it affected my direction, my thought-process; but most importantly, my acting!
I told her, you don't count and write smooching scenes in the script. It is a natural progression that happens! Even during the shoot, if I have written five smooching scenes and I feel I need a sixth or seventh or eight one, it is all to better the flow, the look & the narrative of the film. I am yet to find an 'evolved' actor that enjoys smooching on-camera; it's all too mechanical!
Lesson learnt, always do a workshop with actors involving intimate or smooching sequences, helps ease the shoot and if at all there are problems, cast another actor, there are so many out there looking for a break or work!
