Before I get to the crux of this feature, let's take a walk down the memory lane. Let's go back to the '80s, where Bollywood was dominated by Amitabh Bachchan's angry young films, South-backed productions mostly featuring Jeetendra, anti-establishment movies and the rise of parallel cinema. There was another sort of rise of 'parallel' cinema in that era - of the movies of Ramsay Brothers (and their imitators) and their mix of horror and sleaze. Films like Kabrastan, Dak Bangla, Bandh Darwaza, Purana Mandir et al were decent successes at the box office. Some of such films used horror as a mere excuse to indulge in soft porn. Ajay Devgn to Produce The Ramsay Brothers Biopic (Read Deets).

These movies lent to the prominence of B-grade and C-grade movies in the '90s and '90s. The oft-ridiculed Kanti Shah of Gunda and Loha fame was one of the great pioneers of this kind of cinema. Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Shakti Kapoor, and occasionally Jackie Shroff, used to headline some of these films.

The early part of this millennium also saw Kerala caught in the wave of what was known as Shakeela-tharangam, as sleazy films used to rule at the theatres and even Mohanlal-Mammootty films never made as much money as the ones starring Shakeela or Reshma. These movies also turned Surya TV, a Malayalam channel, a hotspot for gatherings in the high-on-hormones hostel environs, as the channel once used to air them on late Saturday nights, albeit censored of course.

However, with the grasp of internet and smartphones getting stronger on the public and with porn now easily available right on your laptops, phones and Smart TVs, demand for this kind of cinema went down. Or so we thought. The content merely just took a lull before arriving in a new package on the OTT platforms.

While Anurag Kashyap's Netflix offering Sacred Games has nothing to do with B-grade sleaze, it did show us that the freedom of these platforms in allowing the show to push the envelope on nudity and sex. Ekta Kapoor's ALTBalaji is often accused of promoting sleaze through shows like XXX Uncensored and Gandii Baat. Bigg Boss 13's Hindustani Bhau Files a Police Complaint Against Ekta Kapoor For Allegedly Defaming Army Uniform In ALTBalaji's XXX Uncensored Season 2 (View Tweet).

However there are Indian OTT platforms that would even make ALTBalaji blush with its brazen use of nudity and sex. You might have already seen the clips of these shows, movies and short films being circulated on your friends' WhatsApp groups that you hide from your family.

While the content actually stops before turning into hardcore pornography, there are plenty of nudity and sex on display. Some of the shows and films on these platforms have some good production values as well, when it comes to lighting and set times. At times, you would be surprised to see a familiar face, popular on television and cinema, appearing in these shows. Of course, there is plenty of poor acting and even poorer direction. But come on, you are not watching them for aesthetics, right?

While the country is in lockdown, the demand for these platforms have skyrocketed. While at the same time, they are also suffering from piracy as most of their content make way to torrent sites.

We sieved through some of the apps and found that the below five have the most demand in their area of supply.

ULLU

Amar Upadhyay in a still from the series Singardaan

When it comes to nudity, ULLU is the most modest of the lot, merely making its content in line of what ALTBalaji does with XXX, Ragini MMS 2.0 and Gandii Baat. There is at least one sex scene in nearly every video of theirs; while there is no display of private parts -  both male and female - there is ample skin display. Popular actors like Amar Upadhyay, Shraddha Das, Kunal Roy Kapur, Anupriya Goenka, Aman Verma have also appeared in the short films and series. Some of their popular titles are Singardaan, Kavita Bhabhi, Tadap, Charamsukh series, Panchaali etc.

Hotshots

A Still from the show Mysterious Lust from Hotshots

As glossy as Ullu, Hotshots goes one step ahead of its competitor in one aspect - it has no qualms in displaying nudity. Most of their  shows and shot films have topless scenes with frontal nudity. Some of their popular titles are The Yoga Experience, The Getaway, Tharki Chotu etc. Hotshots haven't even let the lockdown stop it from producing content, though we really care for the actors participating in these videos, as they are most definitely not indulging in social distancing!

Kooku

A still from a show in Kooku

Kooku comes somewhere between Ullu and Hotshots. While it offers plenty of sleaze in its content, Kooku restricts itself when it comes to displaying frontal nudity, though a couple of shows do toe the line. Some of its popular titles are My Cousin Sister, Wife for Night, Meri Biwi Ki Suhaagraat etc.

Fliz Movies

A still from a short film streaming on Fliz

Fliz Movies trades glossiness of the previous platforms to what the viewers actually come to them - plenty of sex scenes with amply display of nudity. The direction, acting and visual appeal are mostly coarse, but most of their runtime are dominated by the sex scenes. The nudity here is also borderlines porn, though they fall just short of going errr... XXX (not the ALTBalaji one). Some of their popular titles are Sarla Bhabhi, Made For Each Other, Raja Rani Ghulam etc.

Gupchup

A still from a short film streaming on Gupchup

Gupchup, more or less, is like Fliz Movies when it comes to displaying nudity and portraying sexual content. Some of its popular titles are Badla, Kamini, Ek Bura Kahini, Sarla Bhabhi etc

A few apps, like Hotshots, require credit card payments to subscribe and access their content. All of them do need for you to signup and use their services. With an increasing demand for censorship of OTT content by the government, it remains to be seen how these platforms would find ways to survive this roadblock, if that decision ever passes. But if History has taught us anything, evolution does happen and people will find new ways for their enjoyment, even if it's of the sensual types. People still access sites like Pornhub using a VPN even after the government of India has banned these sites, don't they?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 02, 2020 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).