Panning by film critics and box-office performance notwithstanding, Sanjay Gupta's 'Musafir" will be remembered for its daring and marked departure from popular pulp cinema.

The film, with a huge cast comprising Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Pancholi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sameera Reddy and Koena Mitra, establishes that our stars are no longer dodgy about sex. Hopefully it bids farewell to the days of actors looking uneasy in intimate scenes onscreen.

Remember Manisha Koilara holding her onscreen husband in "Tum" as if he was a snake and insisting on a body double in "Ek Chhoti Si Love Story", or Raveena Tandon unable to conceal her discomfiture in having to get intimate with Nagarjuna in "Agnivarsha"?

Sameera Reddy in "Musafir" establishes that Bollywood has definitely journeyed far from the days when an onscreen kiss used to be represented by a meeting of two roses or a setting sun.