AUSSIE cricket great Brett Lee says he was actually quite comfortable filming his first ever sex scene.

The former Test fast bowler stars in Australian-made, Bollywood-themed romantic comedy unINDIAN, which premiered in Sydney on Wednesday and is released around Australia next Thursday, October 15.

The 38-year-old has filmed music video clips, commercials and made brief cameos in television and Bollywood movies before, but the Australian Indian Film Fund movie is his first leading role in a major film.

Lee stars as a typical Aussie who falls in love with a single-mother from an Indian background and explores the layers of Indian cultures within Australia.

The most striking test of Lee’s acting skills comes midway through the film when he films a sex scene with Bollywood co-star Tannishtha Chatterjee.

The scene shows the 310 Test wicket-taker and Chatterjee appearing naked during the scene set in the female lead’s bedroom, but Lee reveals the scene was not captured how you might imagine.

Lee said he was nervous leading up to the scene, but credits director Anupam Sharma for making both actors feel comfortable during the slightly awkward act.

media_camera unINDIAN gets steamier than this for Binga.

“It had to be tasteful,” Lee told news.com.au.

“As Anu said we were both on the same page with it. I was never pushed into doing something. I was never pushed into doing something I wasn’t OK with.

“Anu did everything to make me feel that comfortable. It was a closed set. I knew all the camera men. I actually felt very comfortable on set. It was a very comfortable safe environment and I think it’s come up well.

“Of course I was nervous going into doing it. Tan was funny. She was stirring me up before we were going to do it. She kept saying things like: ‘Only three hours to go before our big scene, only two hours to go before our big scene.’

“In that genre, romantic comedy, you need that love interest. You need two characters to fall in love and there was that chemistry there. She is a fantastic actress.”

While, the filming went off without a hitch, Lee explains preparing for it was not without a few moments of embarrassment.

“Tan was wearing a little modesty bra and I had these little shorts on, but there’s not much left to the imagination,” he said.

“On the set, when she was ready, I had to walk her over from where she was getting changed to the room on set. I was walking with her holding up a sheet. She made sure I kept looking her in the eyes the whole time. She was joking, ‘No looking down,’ and things like that. It was good that we had that trust.

media_camera This isn’t part of Brett Lee’s sex scene.

“When we were actually filming, there wasn’t anything unexpected. It all went like we thought it would.”

Lee says the sex scene was not even one of his biggest acting challenges.

Lee’s character Will Anderson has a number of emotional scenes and he has a moment in the film where he breaks down and cries.

The former Sydney Sixers spearhead admits it was a big step-up from filming Bollywood music videos.

The Wollongong product volunteered for a five week acting camp with vocal specialist Bill Pepper and acting guru Kevin Jackson in Sydney in order to prepare for the role.

“The most challenging moment is the part where I walk past TK (his character’s best mate in the film) and Pria (a student in the film) and I have to have this cry scene,” he said.

“You have to be at that right level. You can’t fake a cry scene or if you can, you’re a seriously good actor. You have to be right in the moment and it’s an emotional moment. That was much more challenging for me than any physical moments we filmed.

media_camera Brett Lee and Tannishtha Chatterjee had “chemistry”.

“To feel so comfortable going in to doing the sex scene or the erotic scene, which was all done tastefully. Yes, it was embarrassing, but I found that emotional scene, getting myself set for that, was probably the hardest thing.”

Sharma, who has been friends with Lee since they filmed an ad together for Kingfisher beer in Adelaide several years ago, said he has no regrets about using Lee in such a pivotal role in the film.

“I’ll let people make their own judgement,” he said.

“His family saw it and I think they gave it the best compliment, they said in the beginning, after five minutes we didn’t think it was Brett Lee, we thought it was Will Anderson. So that’s a testament to his acting more than the script or directing.

“Every journalist asks me what kind of gamble it was to cast Brett Lee and I always say factually and statistically Brett Lee is a our safest bet for this film.

“His love for film, his love for the industry and his hype in India and his fan following in Australia and most importantly his love for Indian culture.

“Even if we would have had an Oscar- or Bafta-winning actor, the sincerity in which Brett showed his love for Indian diversity could never have been recreated. That’s because the character of Will Anderson is very close to Brett Lee.”

Originally published as Cricket star’s Bollywood sex scene