There is no real nudity in the film: Aruna Shields

Mumbai: She’s in the news all over again. And this time it’s because she is doing a complete nude scene in her forthcoming film. Strangely, the censors have passed the film without touching the scene.

Tell Aruna that she is being perceived for her hot quotient and she says that she doesn’t have a problem. “In commercial Indian cinema I think it is a good thing to be seen as attractive,” she says.
Incidentally, Aruna had initially rejected the role that was offered to her.

“Pravesh (Bhradwaj, the director) was meeting actors from my agency and asked to see me. We met and we clicked. We went through sections of the script together. We communicated ideas about the script fluidly and I told him although I loved the story, I thought I wasn’t completely right for the role of Neera,” she says.Aruna took her time but she eventually agreed.

“Many actresses could have played my role and interpreted it in their way...but looking back I think I was chosen because I listened carefully to the director and we got on so well,” she says. “He sensed I was very relaxed, laid back and relatively low maintenance which means less headaches and dramas for him. He knew I would work extremely hard and get the job done,” says Shields.

She says she had no qualms shedding her clothes for that nude shot. “For me there is no real nudity in the film, and neither would I classify Neera (her character) posing naked as nudity.It’s stylishly and beautifully shot. I cannot see why anyone would find it offensive,” says Shields, adding, “I am very happy. I have no issues.”
“I was looked after very well and don’t remember feeling uncomfortable. I remember Prashant blushing and blundering a couple of times, it was harder for him to concentrate than it was for me!Funny! The only pain was we were shooting in England in winter so I was freezing,” she says.

Talking about her character, Aruna says, “Neera is evolving throughout the story. In the beginning she’s a young innocent, naive girl who has recently got married and is besotted by her husband. As she discovers he is cheating on her, her world is shattered and her journey of self-discovery begins.”

“I related to Neera on many levels going back to when I was an insecure teenager, remembering those experiences which changed me. Remembering my behaviour and thought processes when I had been hurt in relationships. I used subtle physicality to express her feelings,” she signs off.