Not many films explore the concept of sexual fantasies of women. This is the reason actress, writer and director Swati Semwal decided to direct the short film Dildo Laa Rey. The short film, which released on October 31 on Net Pix Shorts, is a humorous journey of two sisters from a conservative family who are exploring their fantasy of a sex toy.
Swati says that even though movies are released all over the world that cater to the idea of sexual fantasies, not many revolve around women. Through the movie she wants to portray that women who belong to smaller towns and cities and come from conservative families too have sexual fantasies. Featuring Aanchal Sharma and Priyanka Arya, the film also addresses the issue of people looking down on sexually active women. “When it comes to women, sex has always been a hush-hush topic. It’s time women get liberated from this silly thought, it is just a physical need and society, in general, should stop judging women,” says Swati.
Through the movie Swati wanted to portray sexual fantasy in an innocent manner instead of showing it in a raunchy way. “There is a very thin line between vulgarity and comedy, and since the movie falls in the category of sex comedy, I have put emphasis on the comedy rather than sex and kept it simple and funny,” says Swati adding that in the movie she has shown how women behave when they are with their friends, the type of language they use, the level of understanding that they share and the fact that they too have ‘naughty’ conversations.
The actress, who was in Bareilly Ki Barfi, says that when it comes to directing sexual scenes, it obviously gets a bit difficult to bring out the emotion of intimacy on screen in a way that it does not look obscene. “This is the reason I focused more on capturing the emotions on their face rather than showing the act,” she explains adding that it all comes down to shooting the scenes in an aesthetic manner and to bring out the beauty of the moment.
When asked how women empowerment is related to sexual liberalisation, Swati says that even though they are not directly connected, there is a huge section of society that looks down on women who indulge in sexual activities. “People need to understand that women too are human beings and they too have feelings and if it is completely okay for men to talk about sex openly, it should be okay for women to do so too.”
With #MeToo gaining momentum in India, Swati feels that the way the movement is being treated and the way people are trashing women who speak out is terribly wrong. “The importance of the movement should not be lost because of the way some people have chosen to make fun of it,” she concludes.
