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No, we're not talking about the notorious Tammy sex video that found its way onto the Web and became one of the most searched-for items last year.
We're referring to Kama Sutra: Essentials for Lasting Intimacy, an adult educational video that was actually produced and shot locally.
Launched at Sexpo 2006 last November and rated M18, the DVD is now available at select video stores like Laser Flair and Sembawang Music.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. This is but another sign that the vice clamp on censorship here is loosening, ever so gradually.
"The Media Development Authority was very helpful from the beginning," noted Radha Govind in an email interview with TODAY.
The 41-year-old is one of two directors of the Really Fun Connection, the company that bankrolled Kama Sutra and an earlier release, Love and Intimacy: The Tantric Way (2005).
Set up in 2004, the Really Fun Connection started out conducting workshops and talks for couples. It has since gone into conceptualising, producing and distributing adult educational videos.
"We met with the MDA to convince them that what we were attempting was good for people," Govind said. "We discussed the guidelines and made sure we adhered to them strictly."
Some of these guidelines, explained freelance director Harry Chew — who helmed both productions — include no full-on nudity and movement shots.
The 25-year-old film and video graduate from Ngee Ann Polytechnic is best known for Plunge, a documentary about skydivers that was showcased at the prestigious 8th International Panorama for Independent Video and Filmmakers in Athens last year.
Chew went on to say that in most of the sequences, the actor is just topless while the actress has a bikini on.
And in one silhouette shot in which she appears topless, she actually has tape covering her nipples.
It all seems a little coy compared to what audiences are used to for M18-rated Hollywood fare.
"During the shoot, I wasn't concerned about whether I'd be grossed out or it'd be weird," Chew candidly confessed over coffee in a separate chat with TODAY. "I was more worried about the time and budget."
While Love and Intimacy was wrapped up in under three days on a budget of between $40,000 and $60,000, Kama Sutra was made over two weeks at a cost of $60,000 to $80,000.
"Most of all," Chew continued sheepishly, "I was concerned with the whole look: How to make the film not so cheesy and yet not so racy. It's about finding a tasteful in-between."
As part of his research, he sat through a number of Bollywood films and learned from them how erotic scenes could be artfully done.
What also helped was his cast of unknowns, picked from open auditions, who were game enough to strike the intimate poses at a drop of the hat.
"We told them there might be some scenes which were a little more provocative and sensual," Govind said, declining to divulge how much the actors were paid. "We made them feel that it would be done professionally and with respect."
"Still, it wasn't easy on the set. At times, the actor and actress had to hold the lovemaking positions for long periods while at other times they had to make transition from one acrobatic move to another in one fluid take. It was awkward, to say the least.
"I cleared the set so there was only the camera man, the producer and myself," Chew disclosed. "I also joked around with the actors. The challenge for me as director was to get them to warm up to each other and make them feel comfortable as a couple."
Well, whatever he did certainly worked wonders.
As Chew recalled with a laugh: "One of the kissing scenes was so well-done that the actor and actress went on French-kissing for a while even after we got the shot and we said 'cut'!"
Sales figures so far seem to indicate that his handling of the material was spot-on.
Love and Intimacy has already broken even and is now beginning to turn in a profit. Kama Sutra is doing even better, moving off the shelves fast.
Sex sells, of course, but it also helps that the Really Fun Connection has been aggressively marketing both titles.
For instance, they're on sale in India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra manual. Copies can be ordered from websites such as Amazon.com or downloaded via totalvid.com. In the United States, 3G mobile distribution is done through Stun Mobile.
Meanwhile, the company is in talks with distributors keen to penetrate markets in Hong Kong and China.
And just in case you're wondering: Yes, another two titles in the same vein will be out, probably by end of this year.
Going by the latest figures suggesting that Singapore's total fertility rate has been steadily dropping since 2003, with only 1.06 children born per female, it certainly looks like couples need all the help they can get.
- TODAY/so
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