Indian drama film "Miss Lovely" was released in the U.S. on Friday. NPR ran a story about how it gives viewers a look into the underground pornography industry in India. The film was directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, who directed "John & Jane." Ahluwalia and Uttam Sirur wrote the screenplay for "Miss Lovely."

"Miss Lovely," which was originally going to be a documentary, tells the story of two brothers who illegally produce pornography in India in the 1980s. Vicky and his brother Sonu, with their production team and actresses, shoot the scenes in hotels while trying to avoid the police. According to Ahluwalia, most of the films produced in India before the last two decades were sexually explicit: "We brag about making 900 films a year, but what most people don't realize is that about 750 of those films, especially up to the late '90s, were C-grade films -- sex horror or bandit films that were essentially sexually explicit."

He explained how the films were sent to censors without the pornographic elements, which were spliced back into the reels when the films were shown in theaters: "What most people didn't realize is that when they were shooting the feature, they were also shooting what was called the 'bits reels,' these pornographic sections."

Bollywood is India's largest film producer and one of the world's largest film centers. Critics gave "Miss Lovely" mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "Miss Lovely sets out to prove that Indian cinema can be as ... frustratingly opaque as a European art movie ... [and] succeeds rather too well."