The report about the detention of a Bangladeshi couple believed to be hogging the limelight in international adult sites leaves society with mixed feelings. To be blunt, zero marks for flouting the Pornography Act 2012 and undermining moral values, but full marks for chutzpah.
They do say, who dares wins!
At least for some time until one fine morning when the law comes calling in. Nope, they are not smiling, and no one is waiting with an AVN Award. Sorry guys, you need to “cum” with us! Pardon me, I just could not help being a little naughty.
Reportedly, the couple had been engaged in making adult entertainment material for some time and is ranked 8th worldwide.
To those who visit adult sites, this may be deemed an achievement since millions of materials aimed at providing 18 plus entertainment are uploaded every day, states aspiring film maker Farhan.
The law of the land prohibits the making, distribution of porn and, therefore, the couple will face a legal procedure.
But the news of their detention opens up discussions about various dimensions of video, written and audio products aimed at providing gratification to people who cross a certain age limit.
The first debate, naturally, is whether any explicit material should be termed porn or adult entertainment.
The smut vs the sophisticated
Usually, there are simple ways to describe materials that have explicit parts in them – items aimed at people of a certain age or, products that are termed pure filth.
If depicting human intimacy is regarded immoral, then classic literature like the 1001 Arabian Nights would be outlawed along with Lady Chatterley’s Lover, A Night in a Moorish Harem and My Secret Life, observed Rohan, a university student.
To talk about adult reading materials in Bangla, we just need to look at our own Masud Rana series, the 007 inspired espionage agent, whose adventures first appeared in the late sixties as an entertainment for adults.
Early books of Rana had the line “Prapto boyoshkoder jonno romanchoponnash” (Thrillers for adult readers).
Over time, due to the increasing popularity of Rana books, disapproval from elderly citizens and the need to capture readers of all ages, the raunchy parts were minimised.
In the West, the notion of adult entertainment in films developed in the early 70s when intimate scenes with flimsy storylines were recorded in heavy blue tone colour, possibly to obscure the facial features of the actors.
Another theory states that the word “Blue Movie” became popular when an Andy Warhol film accidentally developed a blue tint due to improper lighting.
Whatever the case, in the 80s and 90s, adult industry flourished in the West, the entertainment gained a semi legitimate status with productions involving proper storylines, teaser releases, marketing campaigns and so on.
Interestingly, while the adult film industry was evolving in the more liberal countries of the West, here in Bangladesh, a movie, aimed strictly for adults, was released in 1976.
Titled “Gopon Kotha” (Secret Issues), the film starred none other than action super star Sohel Rana and the late actress, Kabori, known back then through the epithet “misthi meye” (sweet girl).
Although nowhere near the hard-core adult films of the West, this film dealt with sexuality as an essential element of adult life, elaborating on human physiological change, importance of birth control, debunking many misconceptions about sexuality.
In fact, Gopon Kotha was more like an infotainment with leading stars.
Interestingly, that was possibly the only film to have been released in the country with the “Only for Adults” tagline.
From the late 80s till the mid-90s, mainstream celluloid productions waded deeper into obscenity and vulgarity with explicit dance numbers and prolonged rape scenes.
These did not have any age-related caveats but could easily pass as soft core.
What was supposed to be shown and denounced as an evil act of violation of a woman’s modesty, was sadistically capitalised by most films of the era to provide a kind of deviant titillation.
Thankfully, the violation scene obsession is no longer a part of our filmdom with the item songs featured in current movies appearing saucy but never smutty.
Should there be adult entertainment?
Times have changed with society becoming more liberal about issues that were once dealt with cloak and dagger.
Mainstream productions, despite the raunchy item numbers, are careful not to subvert social values although on OTT Platforms, we now get films that explore the many complex sub layers of human intimacy.
An invisible revolution in celluloid has taken shape due to the proliferation of OTT platform based productions. These movies challenge orthodox social boundaries relating to man woman relations.
That brings us back to the issue of the couple, detained in Bandarban. Their major offence may be distributing the material, although this was done on international adult sites and not on any local one, says, Ekramul, a student of film and media.
From a purely sociological perspective, taking into consideration as to how society still addresses the intricacies of man-woman intimacy, their crime appears to be brazenly undermining the moral fabric of society.
The key point against them is the encouragement of others to join them in making explicit videos. Reportedly, the couple under the spotlight made a lot of money from their adult videos!
Whether they are entitled to the proceeds of their venture is for the law of the country to decide. The detention and then the remand of the couple have provoked widespread discussions with many believing that their arrest may also increase their public profile.
“I never heard of them and possibly neither did you but now that we know their names, we will most probably go online to check them out,” observes Emon Khan, a film critic.
That will only add to their cachet and, their ranking may just go up, quipped Bibhuti, an art film enthusiast.
Social analyst, Azad Rahman, contends, “The actions of the couple engaged in making explicit videos cannot be condoned from a moral or a cinematic angle because our filmdom still does not officially have a designated ‘adult viewing only’ segment.
“Therefore, anything created for adult entertainment may be deemed inappropriate plus a breach of film making guidelines.”
Replying to the question if the authority should contemplate launching 18 plus certificate for movies, he answers, “movies are for the people; therefore, viewers should have the ultimate say in deciding if such a category is needed or not.”
Film-maker, Farhan, asks a question that may open up another angle to the ongoing debate – what will happen (legal and moral implications) if a couple of Bangladeshi origin wants to enter the adult film industry in the West?
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist.
