Manish Agarwal was a conductor in UP Roadways, coming from a small town called Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.
Manish Agarwal was a conductor in UP Roadways, coming from a small town called Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. Since childhood, he used to do mimicry of Amitabh Bachchan. People who saw his mimicry would say, "You should go to Mumbai." He also had a dream of becoming an actor. One day, his friend offered him a film role. Manish was playing the lead role in that film, and when it released on YouTube, it got million views in one week. Manish Agarwal had become an overnight star.
The 2012 film was called "Hot Aashiq." His heart was beating fast, but he was very happy inside. "Brother Manish, you have become an actor," people said. The bad scene came when the girl removed her clothes—he was removing clothes and his hair stood on end. "Just after one scene, then I kept opening up," he said.
By 2013, Manish Agarwal had done more than 1000 such films. And Manish Agarwal started being called the "Amitabh Bachchan of hot films."
This is somewhat the same story of Pari Tomar, who is called the "Queen of Erotica." You all must have seen this meme—"Slowly, slowly it will happen. That's the problem. Everything is happening very slowly." Even Panchayat's Banrakas had once worked in such a film.
This is one of India's most mysterious industries. You must have many questions in your mind. Where are these films made? How are they made? And where do these actors come from? What do these actors' families think about their work? How did the Mallu category become so famous in India? And how did one actress from this industry become Kerala's most popular star?
Meerut: The Hot Film Hub
When we talk about films and TV, only one city comes to mind—Mumbai. But you will be shocked to know that India's maximum soft films are shot in Meerut, and it is called the hub of hot films. Yes, not Mumbai, not Noida Film City, but Meerut—a small city in Delhi NCR.
You all must have heard names of apps like Ullu, Kooku, Hotshots. All the B-grade films available on these are mostly shot in Meerut. These small budget films are shot in rented apartments, farm houses, and hotel rooms. And the budget of one such episode is just ₹1.5 to ₹2 lakh.
Mostly, these films shot in Delhi NCR have the same story line. Though nobody pays attention to their story line. But their stories mostly revolve around delivery boy, servant and mistress, husband's friend, brother-in-law and sister-in-law—these characters only.
The Aspiring Actors
Mostly, tier 2 and tier 3 actors work in these films. Their dream is that one day they will go to Mumbai and become stars. For them, working in these films is just a stepping stone. They feel that someone will notice them in these films and they will get a role in some big movie. But this journey is not so easy—the reality is quite different.
Pari Tomar, who came from Morena in Madhya Pradesh, came to Delhi in 2012. After that, she did an acting course from RK Media Films Institute and started giving auditions for films. She did devotional songs and many item songs in Bhojpuri industry. Pari Tomar says she had become a sensation in Bihar, and even today during Chhath Puja, DJs there play her songs.
In 2014, Pari Tomar got a call. The director said there is a role but the actress will have to expose a little bit. Pari Tomar said she has no objection in doing these scenes. And from here, her journey of becoming "Queen of Erotica" started.
Between 2014 and 2016, in just 2 years, Pari Tomar worked in more than 1000 B-grade movies. During demonetization, her film "Cash Nahi Toh Aish Nahi" released. It got 12 crore views on YouTube and even trended. In this film, she played the role of a bank manager's neighbor, where to exchange old notes, some favors had to be done.
Pari used to charge ₹15,000 per day and used to shoot 10 to 15 B-grade short movies in one day. That's why she started being called "Queen of Erotica." She said her normal charge is ₹10,000 per day, but if it's bold, then ₹15,000. Pari Tomar told that her work didn't affect her personal relationships much. She said when she last went to her hometown, she was invited as chief guest to inaugurate a school.
In November 2016, she shot her last erotica movie, after which she started doing comedy movies and now has opened her own production house too.
The Dark Side: Rajat's Story
However, not all actors in this industry have such happy endings. Rajat Kumar used to do theater in Delhi and used to get small roles in crime shows. In 2015, he met a casting director named Atul Sharma, who offered him different kinds of movies. Rajat asked what different means. The casting director told that in these films, you will have to remove shirt and kiss the girl.
Hearing this offer, Rajat's mind filled with joy. He said he started visualizing intimate scenes and always wanted to work with different girls. "Now when I did it, I started enjoying it. And money also started coming. Was quite busy. Started meeting new people. New girls started meeting. Was having great fun."
But at this time, he didn't know about its consequences. On the first day of shoot itself, when Rajat went to a congested apartment in East Delhi, he realized that here nobody cares about his acting talent. Producers just wanted him to expose himself as much as possible.
Rajat used to sign a contract before every film shoot, in which he had to give permission to upload video on internet. He used to think who will watch these films. But very soon he realized this was his biggest mistake. He told that he became so paranoid that it became difficult for him to step out of house. Neither could he attend any family function, and instead of metro, he started taking auto—just out of fear that someone might recognize him somewhere.
He felt that wherever he was going, everyone was watching his videos on phone. But still, Rajat kept working in these films because he needed money, and these films paid quite well. But because of this, the small roles he used to get in crime shows stopped coming. Casting directors would tell him, "People have started recognizing you. Everyone has seen your films. You enjoyed it for fun. Now there's a bit of problem."
"Problem came this way that along with this, I was doing some good work too. So when those people saw these films, they told me that if you do all this, then it will be a bit difficult for you in our channel. You won't be able to work here."
In fact, his friends started teasing him by calling him "Sunny Leone of boys." One day, Rajat's elder brother told him that because of his work, family's name was getting spoiled.
The YouTube Era and the OTT Explosion
You must have already searched for him on YouTube or thinking of searching. But let me tell you, you won't find any of his content on YouTube. This was around 2014, and at that time, YouTube policies were quite different. More than 500 soft content channels were active on YouTube, on which thousands of such films were available, and their producers were making good money.
Rajat, Manish, and Pari Tomar were stars of that time. But then YouTube changed its policies. Started content moderation, and such channels slowly disappeared by 2017-18. Because of which, these actors also stopped getting work.
But this doesn't mean this industry shut down. Free internet had just arrived for our public, and big banners exploited this very thing. Ekta Kapoor launched her own OTT platform Alt Balaji in 2017. Initially, some good shows were uploaded. But then Alt Balaji became the most popular platform for soft content. Clips of adult shows like "Gandii Baat," "Triple X," "Ragini MMS" started going viral, and soon there was a flood of such content.
Many actresses whom nobody knew became overnight stars. Like Anveshi Jain, who after the release of "Gandii Baat" show became one of India's most Googled personalities.
Ullu, Kooku, Hotshots, and OTTs from around the world came, on which only soft films were shown. Because this content was not regulated, these platforms slowly kept pushing boundaries. Someone started showing front nudity, then someone started doing full nude shows, and slowly many platforms started producing straight videos beyond erotica.
Their subscriptions were also quite cheap. If you take Netflix full subscription for one month today, you have to pay ₹650. While Ullu, on which adult shows like "Kavita Bhabhi," "Charmsukh" are available, their yearly subscription is available for just ₹693. Earlier it used to be even cheaper. Many apps' monthly subscription was just ₹30-40.
Lockdown became a blessing for these apps because at this time people were watching more content anyway. Ullu's subscription saw 250% growth. In fact, their yearly turnover reached ₹100 crore. And at this time, TikTok was also banned in India. So people were watching more content on all these platforms.
The Raj Kundra Episode
Then enters Raj Kundra, who saw a business opportunity. Raj Kundra used to run a company whose job was to develop apps for Bollywood celebrities. In lockdown, many creators, actors, and influencers realized that they can earn money by selling their photos and videos. Raj Kundra's company Armsprime started making apps for such creators. These were paid apps in which by paying money, you could access any content.
Creators like Poonam Pandey and Sherlyn Chopra got their apps made from his companies only. Seeing their success, more creators started getting such apps made. Then Raj Kundra launched his own app called Hotshots. I am sure many of you must have seen this app's content. Initially, a lot of soft content was uploaded on this app and it ran quite well in the beginning.
But there were many such apps in competition like NFX and Fliz Movies, in which proper videos started being uploaded. So to compete with them, Raj Kundra used his Bollywood cloud to bring many non-famous actresses on his app. These actresses were not making videos, but people preferred watching them instead of random actors.
Raj Kundra saw a business model here. He had seen how popular TikTok format had become, how popular live streaming had become. That's why Raj Kundra launched JL Streaming. On this app, anyone could join. They just had to live stream for minimum 30 hours in 10 days, from which they could earn in dollars.
TikTok was already banned in India. So some of its influencers joined this app. But they needed star appeal. That's why these people started contacting many social media influencers and brought many creators on their app. The more clothes creators removed, the more money they earned. Some creators started earning lakhs of rupees per day.
Viewers used to pay creators directly through UPI, from which some commission went to the company. Business had become successful, but this success didn't last long. Cyber Cell arrested Raj Kundra in a case. Now case is running on him, in which he has also taken names of actresses like Gehana Vasisth, who used to get ₹3 lakh for one film. Hotshots app has also closed, but its content still keeps circulating. Its creators have gone to other apps now.
The Mallu Connection
India's consumption and production is at its all-time high. Mallu category is quite popular on these websites. But do you know the reason? Mallu means Malayalam-speaking people. Basically, Malayalam is shortened to Mallu. And Kerala has a very old connection with this.
By the 90s, Kerala's film industry had already seen a downfall. Movies were not running. Big stars' movies were flopping. That's why film producers and distributors were looking for options. So they got the idea of soft movies, and this idea worked because these were low budget movies and demand was very high. That's why many such movies started being made in Kerala.
In these films, mostly the same 10-15 actresses used to work in rotation, one of whom was Shakeela. Shakeela became so famous that she started charging ₹1.5 lakh for one day's shooting. But that one day's footage was used in multiple films. By early 2000s, Shakeela had become so popular in Kerala that soft films started being called "Shakeela films," and her films used to collect more than superstar Mohanlal and Mammootty's films. These soft films were also called "Mallu films."
In 2002, she announced that she won't work in B-grade movies anymore. After this, she worked in some family movies. In 2013, she wrote her autobiography, and in 2021, she joined Congress party.
The Dark Reality
This is not legal in India. That's why there are many secrets of this industry that common people still don't know. For actors working in soft industry, it is said that these people do all this by their own will. Mostly, there is no exploitation with them. But this cannot be said for the industry.
In the West, we have seen how much exploitation happens with actresses. In fact, in the last one year, many young stars have died mysterious deaths. And in this industry, drugs, child abuse, and human trafficking are also very common.
On the other hand, on platforms like OnlyFans, young girls are spoiling their future for some money.