Bollywood seemed obsessed with sex and sleaze in 2005 but the flirtation rebounded, with the dozen-odd movies of this genre fading out without a whimper.

It started with actress-turned-director Pooja Bhatt's "Rog" starring Irrfan Khan and South African model Ilene Hamann. A murder mystery, the film was a mixture of sleaze and suspense.

Bhatt has been pushing the envelope ever since she ventured into direction with "Paap" in 2003 and tried the same formula in her second film. Unfortunately, neither box office nor audience enjoyed watching steamy scenes on screen.

After "Rog", a slew of unimpressive films hit the marquee and one of them was debutante director Leena Yadav's much talked about "Shabd". It revolved around a prize-winning author, played by Sanjay Dutt, facing a writer's block after the failure of his second novel. Aishwarya Rai played his wife Antara and Zayed Khan her lover.

Certainly, Yadav chose an unconventional theme for her maiden venture but failed to convert a viable script into a convincing film. It had nothing to talk about except a few sexually explicit scenes featuring Sanjay and Aishwarya.

Directors looking for instant fame forget that sex doesn't guarantee box office success - a good script, good craftsmanship and up to the mark performances are a must for a film's success.

Filmmaker Vinta Nanda says: "Basic criterion for the success of a film is a good story and there is an appetite for good films. Last year from 'Black' to 'Page 3', 'Khamosh Pani' to my film 'White Noise' were appreciated by the audience.

"There is a certain mindset in Bollywood that thinks people will come to see sex films. But such films work only in B and C grade centres."

The list of box office casualties is long.

Neha Dhupia, who seemed to believe that exposure was a sure means to success, had to face twin disappointments this year. Two of her films, "Sheesha" and "Siskiyan" which had elements of titillation failed to lure audience and bombed miserably.

One reason for the audience's lack of interest may be too many such films.

Perhaps the year's most sensational release - Vinod Pande's "Sins" - a film about forbidden love between a Catholic priest and a disciple - blew the lid off sexual inhibitions in Indian cinema but failed to pull the crowds.

Producer-director Mahesh Bhatt, arguably one of the most prolific filmmakers in Bollywood, has become a front-bench loyalist and tries to provide the audience instant gratification through his films.

He uses sex and sleaze as publicity gimmicks to promote his films. And to market his thriller "Nazar" he deliberately blew lip-locking scenes between Pakistani actress Meera and Ashmit Patel out of proportion. As anticipated, it annoyed Pakistani fundamentalists.

Bhatt ignored the box office verdict - poor - and churned out another cheesy film called "Kasak" with Meera and Lucky Ali. That too fell flat.

Even Rituparno Ghosh's "Antarmahal" was full of intimate scenes that made a few conventionalist eyebrows rise. In fact, some critics lashed out at Ghosh and even labelled him a porn-filmmaker.

But actor-turned-director Deepak Tijori, who startled filmdom with his sexually explicit films "Oops!" and "Khamosh", seems to have learnt from his past mistakes and has moved on to comedy.

He says: "The success of a genre depends upon the audience's liking. At this point of time comedy is working and double meaning dialogues are titillating people. Also, films with two-three heroes are doing well at the box office."

Films sans sex or nudity did well at box office this year. But there are a few stubborn filmmakers who still refused to accept that verdict.

Writer-director T.L.V. Prasad falls in this category. His film "Mazaa-Mazaa", as the title suggests, had ample room for skin show. Payal Rohatgi exposed her anatomy without any inhibitions. But the audience was fed up with such films and dismissed it.

Other films in the list were "Kaya", "Chehra", "Bach Ke Rehna Re Baba", "Fareb", "Chetna-The Excitement" and "Kasak".

All in all, the box office remained unresponsive to filmmakers who were under the notion skin show helps sell.