This paper examines the 2022 ULLU original Charmsukh Chawl House 2 as a case study of post-liberalization Indian erotica transitioning from analogue羞耻 (shame) to digital subscription-based consumption. The series, part of the larger Charmsukh (Pleasure) anthology, utilizes the spatial metaphor of the ‘chawl’ (communal housing) to explore voyeurism, class anxiety, and gendered performance. By analyzing narrative structure, cinematographic gaze, and platform-specific content strategies, this paper argues that Chawl House 2 simultaneously reinforces patriarchal surveillance and offers a limited, commodified space for female sexual agency. The paper concludes that ULLU’s model represents a unique hybrid of traditional Indian morality tropes and soft-core aesthetics tailored for a male, small-town, digitally native audience.
Our analysis draws on Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze (1975) and Michel Foucault’s discussion of heterotopias (1967). The chawl functions as a heterotopia: a real space that mirrors and inverts societal norms. Unlike the privacy of suburban homes depicted in mainstream Bollywood, the chawl’s thin walls, shared courtyards, and interconnected balconies ensure that every act is potentially public. Chawl House 2 weaponizes this architecture to transform surveillance into a fetish. Charmsukh Chawl House 2 -2022- ULLU Original