That the box-office earnings of a soft-porn film Nishasurabhigal  are next only to Kerala's biggest grosser of all times, Mohanlal's Narasimham, is a stark pointer of the things to come -- the alarming resurgence of soft-porn movies from Kerala. Spurred on by bigger money and markets, the veterans of the genre along with new filmmakers and Mumbai starlets, are set to make the smut scene rosy once again. Will the censor Board and the police set up wake up too late as always?

The first set of soft porn movies from Kerala started in the '70s with films like Her Nights. Silk Smitha undoubtedly ruled the scene then, but with her being no more now, an altogether new breed of actresses is finding favour with the filmmakers of this genre. To start with, vamps who were jobless owing to stiff competition from heroines are now back in circulation. Babilona, who is starring in the film My Dear Babilona  and Shakeela, the star of Kinarathumbikal have signed many new films. Many unknown wannabe stars too have started getting offers, with Mumbai girls being considered an added attraction.

The success of Nishasurabhigal, directed by Sankaran Nair, has spurred the production of soft-porn movies bringing veterans of the genre like Jayadevan and K S Gopalakrishnan once again into action. Even people like Jagadeeswara Reddy, who was once an assistant to a sensitive director like K Vishwanath have stepped in to rake in the moolah.

Jagadeeswara Reddy's debut venture Kama starring Mumbai girls and boys had ace cameraman Ashok Kumar as director and cinematographer. It was sold for a high price due to its publicity but buyers had to burn their fingers as men who thronged the theatres expecting strip shows went back ripping seats and tearing posters. Reddy is therefore now coming out with its sequel, Kamagini with Mumbai girls under his own direction. The film reportedly was sold for a very high price because Reddy has promised to deliver the goods, unlike Ashok Kumar's classy porn.

Ashok Kumar having dabbled in such movies before has now launched his film Kajuraho with Mamta Kulkarni and his son Vishal in the lead, along with some girls from Mumbai as bonus.

Many of the producers who have lost money in mainstream films are said to be silently financing porn movies. The only problem faced by the veterans is from the TV channels which have ample skin shows. So, to keep the guys happy they have to show more of desi girls.

Sankaran Nair who once directed top heroes like Kamalhasan in Malayalam has gradually shifted to soft porn. This 70-year-old director points out that his `romantic movies' (as he calls them) run because he bases his stories from the various pulp novels that he reads and not on VCDs like other directors of his genre. "Making soft porn is not an easy job as you have to sustain the interest of the audience (read men) for two hours," says Nair adding, "for this you need very good imagination."

The soft porn movies usually have two versions -- one for the censor board and another one for trade circles which has additional footage. The selling price of the movie depends on the length of the extra footage.

Looks like, happy times are here again for voyeurs!