I was in splits rehearsing for sex scenes, says Rahul Khanna

A few months ago, actor Rahul Khanna Instagrammed a selfie displaying mock scare over a nudity clause that he had agreed to for a role in the US television series The Americans. Now that he has shot the "dreaded" scene, he is back in the city and talking about his experience. In the second season of the espionage thriller set in the Cold War era, which has already aired in the US, Khanna played the titular role in the episode Yousaf, a suave Pakistani intelligence officer.

"I had a few days of wild panic and needed assuaging from my manager and director of the show. Then I told myself: 'One of your favourite shows wants to fly you to New York to play the title role in an episode, roll around in bed with a beautiful woman and pay you for it. You should be rejoicing.' That helped," he says.

But for someone who was used to doing steamy scenes (remember Earth?), why was he panicking? "I'd watched the show and knew it was pretty sexy. They were also upfront about the sex scene that involved some nudity. I read the draft and it seemed manageable,"says Khanna. "However, they later sent me an updated draft that was more risqué with a 'nudity and simulated sex consent agreement'. That's when things got pretty terrifying," says Khanna.

The shooting though went off without a hitch. "Every move is choreographed; it's awkward, but if you have a relaxed costar (Gillian Alexy), you end up laughing a lot between takes. What we actually shot was a bit more explicit,and what eventually made it to the final edit was nothing too scandalous," he says.

So what preparations did he need? "Nothing makes you more vain than being told you will be filmed with your clothes off. I didn't have much time between signing on and shooting, but one does silly things like cutting out carbs and sugar from the diet, and doing pushups in the trailer".