by Subhash K Jha

Skirt-chasing is certainly in. And the shorter the skirt, the better. Akshay Kumar and John Abraham play protographers with a combined roving eye that could be an ideal harem-spot. Three new girls Neetu Chandra, Nargis and Daisy Bopanna happily and unapologetically run riot with flirty wisdom

Monogamy is out. Promiscuity is in. After Masti and No Entry, a cluster of men lusting after one damsel in dis-dress seems to be the potion for boxoffice success.

If Masti had Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani having the hots for Lara Dutta in Masti Bipasha Basu gets more than her fair share of male attention in No Entry.

And no one, not even the ladies in the audience, seems to mind this new brassy Slutty-Savitri and seductress who gets the adrenaline rushing into male veins.

Sure, sometimes in vain. The formula failed in Sanjay Gupta's Musafir where Sameera Reddy was trapped in a sexually forthright liaison with Anil Kapoor and Mahesh Manjrekar. But that was a relationship gone too far.

Dino Morea who's part of a new group-sex film says, "Audiences love the idea of Eve being wooed by several Steves....like Saira Banu was courted by Sunil Dutt, Mehmood and Kishore Kumar in Padosan. The trick is to keep the tone light. That's what we're doing in Tom Dick & Harry where Jimmy Shergil, Anuj Sawhney and I play three guys panting after Celina Jaitley ."

Deepak Tijori directs what could possibly be a follow-up success to No Entry....depending on how long audiences remain interested in the theme of collective courtship.

Several directors are planning projects where one girl becomes the object of multiple amorous adoration.

Manoj Bhatia who directed the candyfloss romance Uff....Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai is planning a film called Tom & Jerry about two guys wooing the same girl, all stops pulled out. He wants Sammir Dattani and Vatsal Seth to play the leads in this modernday interpretation of the hare-and-tortoise fable.

Remember how Deepti Naval shriveled and recoiled at the attention she got from Naseruddin Shah and Farouq Shaikh in Katha?

Guys in our new hyper-libidinous fables are far more aggressive and explicit about their intentions.

And the ladies are loving it!

Says Akshay's Garam Masala heroine Neetu Chandra, "You can't be Sati Savtri on screen any longer. It's certainly the era of making an impression. You cannot let nature takes it course. You have to make it happen for yourself. And now."