© PA Images / Mustafa Quraishi
Shetty, who plays a bald lesbian monk in the movie, shot the scenes with Chinese co-star Xia Yu.
According to Mid Day, Shetty said: "I had no qualms in doing these scenes as these sequences are an integral part of the film, and have been aesthetically shot."
The 36-year-old actress had reportedly been looking for a challenging script following her widely acclaimed performance in Anurag Basu's Life In A Metro.
A source said: "In the film, a world famous Chinese painter is madly in love with Shilpa's character Gautami, but she does not really respond to him. These sequences are a part of the story building up to how far their friendship goes.
"The film traces Gautami's journey through a number of years. The love story is beautiful and the passion between the two characters is almost like a painting."
The role has been described as the most interesting of the actress's 17-year career.
"I would say that it's my character Gautami who is bold, and not the scenes, per se," explained Shetty.
The Indo-Chinese movie is her first major film role since her Celebrity Big Brother win in 2007.
The actress was last seen performing a single dance number in Dostana, a romantic comedy starring Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham.
Shetty has previously said that her career in Bollywood has been stalled by younger actresses.
