Come January and you can get ready for another hot performance from Miss hot hot Basu. She is all set to scorch the screen with her Jism. According to the buzz in industry circles, the Pooja Bhatt-produced film features Bipasha in the role of an independent-minded woman who uses her guiles and sexuality to get ahead in life.

Interestingly, the supermodel-turned-actress hasn`t used a body double for any of the steamy scenes in the film. If sources are to be believed, never before has a mainstream Mumbai actress gone quite so far in shedding her inhibitions – and clothes. "I don`t mind a little bit of nudity if the script demands it," says the sultry seductress. "In Jism, to be honest, I have really enjoyed strutting my stuff in front of the camera." Bipasha is, however, quick to counter a suggestion that she has been using her hourglass figure to further her film career. "That`s not true," she asserts. "You can`t survive in the industry by merely exposing your body. You`ve got to have talent as well."

But she has no problem with the pre-release publicity of the film playing up the erotic aspect of Jism. "Sex alone cannot sell a film, but there is no harm if all talk about the film centres on the erotic scenes in the run-up to its release," she says matter-of-factly. Jism, scheduled for release in January 2003, also has Bipasha`s ex-boyfriend and model John Abraham in the cast. The film has been directed by debutant Amit Saxena.