Pooja Bhatt set to direct `Jism 3`

Mumbai: Actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt is all set to helm the third installment of the erotic-thriller franchise, 'Jism'.

Pooja says the film, titled 'Jism 3', will be the "boldest" in the series and will feature three men and one woman in the lead role.

"I will start working on 'Jism 3' this year and the film will release sometime in 2017. It has to be the boldest movie yet. I have decided to completely shake up things this time," Pooja told PTI.

The 2003 film 'Jism' starred Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, the latter making his debut in Bollywood. The sequel, released in 2013, marked the debut of adult star Sunny Leone in the Hindi film industry.

When asked if she will be launching newcomers in the film, Pooja said, "I don't know, let the speculations begin."

Even though she plans to make 'Jism 3' the boldest in the franchise, the actress, who has directed films like "Paap" and "Holiday", is not worried about the censor board.

"I have no issues with them. If I don't agree with something they are asking for, I fight. 'Jism' had one cut, excess amount of boldness was toned down in the sequel, my other film 'Sadak' faced issues and 'Zakhm' was banned. So this talk of filmmakers not having freedom of expression is not new, it has been happening."

Pooja said when she was dealing with an obscenity case for her film 'Rog', no one came out in support of her.

"I fought my battle for the 'Rog' obscenity case alone for 8 years. Not one person from the industry came out in support. So now deal with the problems. It's too easy to join the crowd and hurl stones."

She is currently producing Richa Chadha-starrer 'Cabaret'.