Amit Virmani was vacationing at Bali's famous Kuta Beach when he met a 12-year-old boy who told him of his unlikely goal: to grow up fast, so he could be a gigolo.
The boy said his heroes were the young bronzed Indonesian surfers who provided erotic services to Japanese women and other female tourists who flock to the island for discreet sex vacations. The young men's apparent sexual prowess and serial romances have earned them the nickname “Kuta cowboys."
“It begged the question: 'Who are these young cowboys?' “ said Virmani, a Singapore-based writer and director. “What about their life is so exciting? Is it really paradise?"
For many, the cowboy lifestyle brings up another, moral, question: Are the young men merely a twist on the world's oldest profession, purveyors of sex and an island escape who don't charge upfront for their services, yet who in the end expect ample compensation?
Or are they just good-time Charlies, poor islanders who take what they can get from the often-wealthy women who flock to their home, prompted in recent years by such books as “Eat Pray Love" to be less inhibited about traveling for sexual adventure?
And how are these women different from the male sex tourists willing to shell out cash for liaisons with young women around the globe?
For two years, working alone, Virmani wandered Kuta Beach shooting video for his documentary “Cowboys in Paradise." Surfers detailed their techniques, pick-up lines and strategies to meet and seduce mostly older foreign women.
The film, released in 2009, has angered Bali's predominantly Hindu residents, who say Virmani's lurid focus on sex has desecrated what they consider a sacred beach.
Pressured by local news media, police in April detained 28 men who lacked proper identification for what one official called “disturbing the peace or security of our beaches."
Nowadays, just the mention of the phrase “Kuta cowboy" can make the easygoing men in their 20s and 30s who rent surf and boogie boards along the tree-lined beach bristle with anger.
“It's a big lie; these guys don't exist," said I. Made Subali, a deeply tanned man with skull tattoos who rents surfboards near a sign that encourages clients to “Make New Friends with the Local Boys."
He alleged that Virmani misrepresented himself to the surfing community. He said the men didn't know Virmani was making a film and told him tall tales. Now those featured in the documentary are seen as troublemakers in local bars, he said, and several have left the island.
The 83-minute film, with a trailer that has drawn hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, has put officials on the defensive.
