If you're a film buff, you’ve probably wondered at least once how kissing scenes are actually shot. Those intimate moments that look so natural on screen; do they require special skills from actors?
Girija Oak, the internet’s latest crush, might disappoint you with her brutally honest description of how “mechanical” these scenes really are.
In a recent interview with Lallantop, Girija was asked how she prepares herself mentally to romance a complete stranger on camera.
The Jawan actress said that many women have asked her the very same question; but the truth is, there’s nothing romantic about shooting a kissing scene.
She explained, “The ACs are switched off so the sound isn’t disturbed, and you’re sweating nonstop. There’s a mic stuck to you, someone is drying your sweat with a hairdryer, someone else is adjusting the light with a piece of thermocol, and another person is fixing your hair. With so many people staring at you, how can anyone romance?”
Giving a behind-the-scenes peek, Girija added, “Someone once asked me how kissing on screen feels. I said it feels like kissing cardboard. There’s no emotion at all; everything is mechanical. When you deliver a close-up line, the other actor isn’t even there. You’re usually looking at the camera or at the edge of a stand. I’ve had entire emotional conversations while staring at thermocol or a black cloth.”
Girija Oak is well known for her work in both Marathi and Hindi cinema. She has appeared in Marathi films such as Gulmohar, Lajja, and Navra Maza Bhavra, and also acted in the Kannada film House Full.
In Bollywood, she played Jabeen in Aamir Khan’s blockbuster Taare Zameen Par (2007), appeared in Shor in the City (2010), and was most recently seen in Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan (2023).
She also starred in the Sony TV show Ladies Special, which followed the lives of women who commute by the Ladies Special train in Mumbai.
Her OTT work includes Modern Love: Mumbai, 13th: Some Lessons Aren’t Taught in Classrooms, and her latest release Inspector Zende, opposite Manoj Bajpayee.
