/> All that talk of aspiring actor Nikhil Diwedi doing a nude sequence for Mani Ratnam's Raavan was a bit premature. The fact is, Nikhil got shy at the last minute about going all the way ("What will my family say?") thereby creating a panic in the jungles where the film was shot.

Says a very reliable source from the unit, "The first ever male nude sequence in a Hindi film almost didn't happen. Nikhil Diwedi who had to do the scene copped out.

The director Mnai Ratnam tried to explain to him that the scene was not for titillation. It is a scene of torture police turture...in reverse. Usually it's cops who are shown torturing suspected offenders.

Here it's the other way around. Beera (Abhishek) and his men capture a cop played by Nikhil Diwedi.They strip and torture him."

This is were Nikhil put his foot down. He flatly refused to perform the 'rear' feat arguing that his family and friends would be deeply mortified.

"Sir main apne ghar walon ko kya mooh dikhanoonga?" Diwedi apparently whined in front of the baffled director who isn't used to being told no.

Says the source, "All attempts to convince Nikhil to bare all failed. Mani Ratnam was at his wit's end. His assistants reminded Nikhil that the actor's counterpart in Tamil (John Vijay) had willingly bared all. But Nikhil was immovable.

They finally had to get a body-double with ...shall we see...similar vital statistics to stand in for Nikhil."

When contacted Diwedi is afraid to talk, "I am not allowed to say anything. But if you're talking about full-frontal nudity then sorry I won't do it. We Indians have a certain inbuilt censorship."

While Diwedi demurred Rahul Bose had no qualms stripping for the camera in Dev Benegal's Split Wide Open. Ranbir Kapoor dropped the towel in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya.

Even Anil Kapoor did a sequence in the buff for Shankar's Nayak.Recently John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh did police interrogation scenes in the nude in Kabir Khan's New York and Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail, respectively.

Says Rajit Kapoor, "What's the big deal about going nude for the camera? I did it in Train To Pakistan 20 years ago."