India’s First ‘Intimacy Coordinator’ Helps Choreograph Sex on Screen1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteHollywood actress Sharon Stone recently said she was tricked into removing her underwear during the infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct where she uncrossed her legs during a police interrogation.
In her recently published memoir, she wrote that she was asked to remove her underwear during filming because “the white is reflecting the light” and was assured that the viewers “can’t see anything”. But as she – and the rest of the world – discovered later, they could see quite a lot.
Director Paul Verhoeven denied her claim. He said she was fully aware of what was happening, and even accused her of lying. But Stone insists that she felt violated by what happened and that the incident nearly broke her.
Could this unsavoury saga have been avoided?
“Easily,” says Aastha Khanna, India’s first and only certified intimacy coordinator. “If I was there, I would have given her a skin-coloured underwear.”
In the early 1990s when Basic Instinct was shot, an intimacy coordinator – someone hired to help performers feel more comfortable during nude and sex scenes – was unheard of. But it’s a role that’s being increasingly sought-after since the 2017 #MeToo movement put the spotlight on rampant sexual harassment and exploitation in entertainment industries around the world.
Image credit: Aastha Khanna
