Emraan Hashmi and Tanushree Dutta starred opposite each other in Aditya Dutt’s Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005). The film’s title track, featuring an intimate lovemaking sequence, became a huge talking point at the time. In a recent interview, Tanushree reflected on being judged for on-screen intimacy and even described her chemistry with Emraan as “brotherly.”
Aditya Dutt clears the air
When director Aditya Dutt was asked about Tanushree’s statement, he told Radio Nasha that he was hearing of it only now.“I have no idea. I heard about Tanushree saying that in some interview right now. But there was no such conversation back then. Maybe because we all used to hang out a lot together as friends. But I think what she wanted to convey was that she was very comfortable with all of us as boys,” Aditya explained.The filmmaker also highlighted his personal bond with Emraan, “Emraan and I… he’s been senior to me in school. I know him from when I was in Maneckji Cooper. We were Cooper boys, we had a very big common friend circle. We are still very thick, all of us. And I think Tanushree used to hang a lot with us back then, even while we were filming. So I think it’s just that we all were very comfortable with each other. Nothing brotherly about it, for sure.”
Shooting intimate scenes without a coordinator
Aditya also reflected on filming the bold sequences in Aashiq Banaya Aapne at a time when intimacy coordinators were unheard of in Bollywood.“But like I said, we were mature enough. We didn’t give too much heat to the fact of making anyone feel uncomfortable. It just came naturally when I was shooting. Obviously, like how people usually do, the unit was womanistic, but there could be no intimacy coordinator. It was just me, Emraan, Tanushree talking to each other and saying, ‘Listen, this is what I want to shoot. These are my shots.’ At the same time, there was no nudity while we were shooting. Everything was covered,” he shared.The director emphasized how different the scale of filmmaking was back then, “At that time, the unit wasn’t that big — hardly 50 people. Today, we have units of 200. Back then, it was very small. We used to just finish everything quickly. It may look sensuous on-screen, but when you’re shooting it, it’s very mechanical.”
