This Saturday, Pune to host a workshop on fundamentals of erotic writing

Indian Express

14-05-2025

From the pages of the Kama Sutra to the sculptures of Khajuraho, India has an elaborate history of celebrating erotic experiences. Over time, however, art in the country began to shy away from erotica until, today, it is a rare performance or piece of literature that explores it publicly.
When Bhushan Korgaonkar, a theatre director, writer and translator from Mumbai, decided to revisit erotica through workshops on the fundamentals of writing it in stories or songs, among others, he found that the seats filled fast. On May 17, Korgaonkar will bring the session, 'Writing Erotica', to Pune for the first time.
Korgaonkar is the director of Lavani ke Rang, based on Maharashtra's popular erotic dance form. The play had won the prestigious Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award for the lead dancer, Shakuntalabai Nagarkar, in 2023. Another play, Love and Lavani, highlights the complexities of man-woman relationships in the art form.
'I was at the Karnavati University near Ahmedabad for a lecture-demonstration on Lavani when I mentioned that I also write erotica for a platform called Storytel. It was suggested that I conduct a workshop that will enable participants to explore erotica and get some writing tools and tips on the subject,' he says.
Korgaonkar devised a module for university students, but before that, he thought of conducting a trial at his studio in Vile Parle in Mumbai. 'We announced it on a Monday and, in the next two or three days, all the slots were full,' he says. Many filmmakers and writers were part of the workshop. Filmmaker Gauri Shinde of English Vinglish fame has called the workshop 'insightful and quite an eyeopener'. Word spread and, soon, Korgaonkar was repeating the module multiple times.
The workshop opens with Korgaonkar establishing that it was a safe space to talk about the subject, conducting writing exercises, sharing and discussions, among others. He also touches upon various ancient literary works that talk about erotica very openly, such as Gatha Saptasati, written in the ancient language of Maharashtri Prakrit.
Korgaonkar 'does not have an answer to why we do not talk about erotica more openly' but points to the Western idea of sex being a sin that arrived in India with colonialism.
So far, he has found that some groups openly share ideas while others are 'initially hesitant as this was their first such workshop'.
'There is a fine line between erotica and vulgarity. The line is different for everyone, every society, community and individual. We try to find this line in the workshop through a collective process,' he adds.
Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More