Photo Imaging/Uday Mohite

As undoubtedly one of the most controversial films this year, Ravi Jadhav's Nude has raised some serious questions through what it shows and, inadvertently, through what it chooses to stay silent about. At the heart of this Marathi film are two poor women who sign up as models for the nude study at one of India's leading art colleges, Sir JJ School of Art. As one the last institutions in India where students work with live models, the practice meets with vehement protests. What's interesting, amidst the case that the students make for the nude, is that the women, Yamuna and her aunt Chandrakka, in their absolute naiveté regarding art practices, raise the most significant questions. Yamuna asks — Why do art students paint nudes?