15 years of Love Sex Aur Dhokha: The beginning of Rajkummar Rao, Nushrratt Bharuccha era

As Rajkummar Rao and Nushrratt Bharuccha’s debut vehicle Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD) clocks in 15 years, here are some interesting facts about the cult film which became India’s first full-length feature shot entirely in digital format.

The beginning of Rajkummar Rao

LSD marked the entry of many new faces in Bollywood, including Rajkummar Rao and it all happened because of a newspaper ad that the actor saw when he was in Gurugram. “”When I went to give my first audition, I wore atrangi clothes because that was the brief given to me. I was asked, ‘What are you wearing? Do you have anything else?’ I said, ‘No’. I was like, ‘S****, I’m gone, he doesn’t like it’,” Rajkummar said on the podcast with Raj Shamani. He eventually got a call back but was asked to shed weight from his face. “In one week, I lost significant weight. I ran a lot,” he revealed, adding that he was paid ₹11000 for the film. While his performance was loved, it left his future wife, actor Patralekhaa “creeped out”. After seeing LSD, she was asked to do a music video by a friend, but she said no because “I think he is very creepy and I was scared”, the actor told Humans of Bombay.

When Raj went butt-naked

While he set his boundaries on screen over the years, Rajkummar did bare it all, quite literally, in his first film. “In my first film LSD, I was butt naked in a scene. Of course, it didn’t clear through the censor board; it was blurred, but I was scared to do it,” he told India Today, adding, “But, I also knew that this was my first film and big break and I couldn’t turn around and say that I’m not comfortable doing it so I won’t do it because at that time, I didn’t know when would I get my first film again.” The actor was also glad about his parents’ reaction to it. “My mum said that if this is a part of your job, you’re an actor and if your role really demands it, and it’s really essential for the project, then go ahead and do it.”

No pay for Nushrratt

While Rajkummar got ₹11000 for LSD, Nushrratt didn’t get any money for it. “I always wanted to work with Dibakar Banerjee. When I watched Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, I said that I’d work for free with Dibakar and that’s what actually happened. I didn’t get paid for that film, not a single penny,” she had said in an interview.

Ektaa was ‘shocked’

Director Dibakar Banerjee had earlier revealed that producer Ektaa R Kapoor was shocked after seeing the film for the first time. “When Ektaa saw the film, she wasn’t so much shocked by the content on voyeurism and free-for-all invasion of privacy as the treatment and format. I’ve shot the film on a digital format with a hand-held camera. So Ekta’s first question was, ‘Why is the camera shaking so much?’ Her second question was, ‘Who is going to watch this film?’ Frankly, I had answers for both questions. But Ekta’s initial reaction of shock remains. She doesn’t really believe that such an unusual and shocking film is viable,” he had said. Ektaa had also revealed getting paranoid after the film. “When I came out of the movie, I was furtively looking for bugs and cameras everywhere.”

The sequel that began on Bigg Boss

A sequel to the film, LSD 2 was released last year with more new faces, but it’s journey actually started on Bigg Boss 16. Ektaa went inside the house during the season to cast the female lead for the film, which turned out to be actor Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia. However, she didn’t end up doing the film and Dibakar had said during LSD 2 promotions that the Bigg Boss casting was just a “PR stunt”.