Mallika Sherawat, self-defined “Audio Visual Viagra”, is bindaas  when you tell her the promos of her new film Murder are hot. “Showcase aisa hai to socho godown mein kitna hoga (if the showcase flaunts so much, think what the godown has in store)!” she quips.

Pity, producer Mukesh Bhatt’s muse (he has declared that Mallika is Bollywood’s new-age Mumtaz) didn’t mouth the line before the film’s release. Else, Bhatt could have used it as a punchline to sell his latest ware.

But that’s beside the point. Punchline or no punchline, Bhatt as much as Karan Razdan, director of last week’s flesh cart Hawas, and Aruna Raje, whose Tum  bombed recently, must have realised a hard fact: In a country where watching films is still regarded as a family outing for an audience that swears by its annual Karan Johar hit, sex doesn’t sell. Of course, Khwahish, with Mallika’s 17 smooches, made money, as did Bipasha Basu’s Jism  and Manisha Koirala’s controversy-fuelled Ek Chhoti Si Love Story (you’d say that Market is a hit too, but then so is Bijlee Aur Bandook – have you heard of the film?).

On the other hand, the flop list is an extended one: Boom, Oops, Paap, Tum  and Hawas  (average only in parts). Even Murder has hardly taken much of a start. Mallika’s take: “So-called family films may draw bigger crowds. But everything from Satyajit Ray to Murder has its own audience.”

Bollywood’s sex romp won’t stop. Lined up are shades of lesbianism (Girlfriend), a bored housewife and her three lovers (Musafir), a third Unfaithful rip-off after Hawas  and Murder (Husn), and tales of prostitutes (Dukaan, Julie). Says Amrita Arora, who stars in Girlfriend with Ishaa Koppikar: “If our film talks of one girl’s obsession for another, it also has great music, comedy and romance. It’s an all-round entertainer.” Are audiences ready for sex as a formula of entertainment?