Willingness to put your guard down and pose nude is not everyone’s cup of tea. Here are 15 celebrities who did not shy away from nudity and had the guts to pose in front of the camera. 

1. Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh broke the internet when he posed completely naked for the cover photo of Paper magazine. The actor, who is famous for his peculiar sense of clothing, went clothless for the photoshoot and owned the camera like the pro he is. He even talked about it in an interview with the magazine, admitting that he doesn’t care about posing naked. He is more concerned about the ‘energy’ and not the ‘mortal vessel.’

It’s so easy for me to be physically naked, but in some of my performances I’ve been damn f**ing naked. You can see my f**ing soul. How naked is that? That’s being actually naked. I can be naked in front of a thousand people, I don’t give a s**t. It’s just that they get uncomfortable

2. Rajshri Deshpande

When the first season of Netflix’s widely appreciated series Sacred Games dropped in 2018, it also got entrapped in controversy for Rajshri Deshpande’s nude lovemaking scenes. However, the actress shared that she didn’t hesitate for a minute before saying ‘yes’ to Anurag Kashyap because she trusted her director. She owned up to her work with pride and delivered an outstanding performance in the series.

We all have the same body. I’m not degrading a woman, rather showing a beautiful side of a person. It doesn’t bother me when all these things that happen. I am very comfortable in my own skin. And I believe and trust in the maker.

3. Milind Soman

27 years back, Milind Soman posed nude with model Madhu Sapre in a photoshoot for a shoe manufacturer. The ad created controversy back then. 

However, the actor has been comfortable and confident with his body and physique. On his 55th birthday, he shared a picture of himself running nude on a beach, photographed by his wife.

4. Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor has posed nude twice for his movies. He was butt-naked while dancing for the song in his movie Saawariya. For Sanju as well, the actor went nude for a scene of interrogation by the police. Reportedly, the actor opened up about this and shared that he is shy in real life, but his character does the talking when the cameras are on.

I went nude in my first film itself when my towel dropped. I am very shy in my real life but when the cameras are on, I am not shy as I am portraying a character so you have to be nude in your emotions and physically.

5. Zeenat Aman

Way ahead of her time, the actress Zeenat Aman draped in a wet white saree for her role in the troubled love story Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The clothing of the actress in the film was perceived as too scanty and obscene for the Indian audience and triggered a lot of controversy in the 1970s.

6. Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan is a perfectionist. We all know that he takes a hell lot of effort in hitting the nerves of his character to deliver an outstanding performance. For his widely appreciated movie PK, the actor posed nude while covering himself with a boombox. The film poster garnered controversy, but Aamir set the records straight while stating that the ‘poster imbibes all the elements of the film.’

I would just like to say that the kind of filmmaker, the kind of writer Rajkumar is, he always tries to present the things, his thinking, in a unique way and that’s why I am his huge fan.”

7. Simi Garewal

Simi Garewal is also known for delivering bold performances back in the 1970s. She was the first Bollywood actress to pose naked in front of the camera at a time when two flowers signified a romantic sequence. In a 1972 Indo-American film titled Siddhartha, Simi posed naked while Shashi Kapoor kneeled down with hands folded in front of her. The scene became highly controversial and caused a public uproar.

When Conrad Rooks approached me to play Kamala, I was intrigued, but a little hesitant because of the love scenes that were inherent to the role. It took some time to conjure the mind set and to believe it was Kamala, not Simi, who was rendering them. As expected, the love scenes did become controversial; but I felt I had been true to my role.

8. Neil Nitin Mukesh

Neil Nitin Mukesh went naked in a Madhu Bhandarkar-directed movie titled Jail. Reportedly, a section of the masturbation sequence in the movie was chopped off in mutual consensus with the dirctor as it was ‘too explicit.’

My nude or masturbation scenes are not for titillation. It’s a very practical need in the script. My character is in Jail without sex for 2 and 1/2 years. What does he do? He naturally seeks pleasure by himself. In the scene that we shot my character fantasizes about his girlfriend and gets his gratification.

9. Udita Goswami 

Udita Goswami also once did a bold sequence in Zeher wherein she was seducing her co-actor, Emraan Hashmi. The actress went topless for the film.  

10. John Abraham 

Be it sharing a picture from the sets waiting for clothes or fulfilling the demands of the character in his film New York, John Abraham has also never shied away from the camera. The actor has even openly revealed that he sleeps naked.

11. Neha Dhupia

In 2004, Neha Dhupia posed bareback for the poster of her film Julie. Her bold role as a sex worker in the erotic movie courted quite a bit of controversy. Reportedly, the actress rejected the sequel for the film.

Yes, I was offered ‘Julie 2’. But I refused it because that’s not something I want to do right now.

12. Mandakini

In 1985, the actress Mandakini posed in a sensuous white saree under a waterfall for her movie Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Her scenes in the film stirred controversy as they were deemed ‘too bold’ for the Indian audience. 

13. Rajkumar Rao 

Rajkumar Rao is undoubtedly a remarkable actor. For a prison sequence in Shahid, the actor shot naked in front of the camera. He even got a National Award for his outstanding performance in the film. However, this was not the first time the actor had to shoot a nude scene. He also performed one sequence for his debut movie, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, in 2010.

‘I met Dibakar Banerjee and he then told me, ‘you know, there is a scene where you have to be fully naked in the scene’. It took me seconds to just understand, and then I said, ‘yeah it’s fine, it’s my job’. I said, anything for my part.

14. Kareena Kapoor

We have been witnessing an evolution in the artistic representation of sensuous scenes. Now, filmmakers have more creative freedom in portraying scenes of sexual nature. However, much to the contrary, when the film poster of Kurbaan dropped in 2009, it created controversy. Kareena Kapoor Khan posing a topless back didn’t go down well with the audience, who deemed it obscene. But, Kareena didn’t hesitate to own up to it. 

I do not find anything wrong with the poster. I think it is very aesthetic.

15. Sharman Joshi

In Hate Story 3, Sharman Joshi broke stereotypes with his family-boy image when he sported a butt-naked scene in the sex-thriller. He and his co-star in the movie, Zarine Khan, were quoted saying they were ‘extremely comfortable’ in the lovemaking sequence.

I was extremely comfortable. Also, due credit should go to Zarine and the rest of the crew because it’s part of the job and we’re professionals. We are here to enact our parts and if it requires a lovemaking scene, we’ve gone out and done that as any other scene that one would’ve approached.

One thing’s for sure, it takes guts to sport nude scenes in front of a camera.