When news of Neil Nitin Mukesh’s naked scene in Jail made rounds, it not only shocked audiences but added more credibility to the hat of Madhur Bandarkar as realistic director in Bollywood. However, the scene was soon edited and chopped as the cast and crew did not want to offend or stir up any controversies amongst the public. The most recent news to have come out of the Jail bandwagon is the chop-chop of a masturbation scene in the film.
The scene has awarded Neil the honor of being the first Indian “mainstream” actor to have partaken in such a sexually explicit scene, “The way Madhur depicts explicit sexual scenes, I said yes… All the inmates are asleep when I do it. Now, most of the scene has been chopped off. But we still see the character doing it.” The scene was shot amongst 450 other actor who played inmates who were in sleep mode when the scene takes place. Whether it was the nude scene or the masturbation one, both have been incorporated into the film simply because they are a requirement of the film.
There are some additional scenes which have been edited keeping Indian audiences in mind including an oral sex scene between two inmates. By mutual agreement, both director and actor agreed that the scenes were far too candid and needed to be edited or completely cut out.
The actor does justify the need for these scenes though, “My nude or masturbation scenes are not for titillation. It’s a very practical need in the script. My character is in Jail without sex for 2 1/2 years. What does he do? He naturally seeks pleasure by himself. In the scene that we shot, my character fantasizes about his girlfriend and gets his gratification. Even the love-making scene with Mugdha [Godse] has been aesthetically shot.”
