Playboy Club comes to Hyd

The risqué bunny will set foot for the first time in India in the city. The crème-de-la-crème of the city are yearning to grab an invite for the launch party on Friday

Hyderabad: The magazine may be banned in India, but the risqué bunny is set to woo partyholics in Hyderabad. While the proposal to set up an archetypal one at Candolim Beach in Goa in 2012 was rejected by that State government citing technical reasons, PB Lifestyle, a Mumbai-based Indian firm with rights to the Playboy brand, plans to open the club in Hyderabad.

Sanjay Gupta, the chief executive officer of PB Lifestyle Ltd, had earlier said that a club would be launched in a five-star hotel in the city. The Hans India learns that the Playboy Club would most probably be set up either near Shamshabad or Shamirpet. And head honchos and bureaucrats from the city have their arms wide open for the invitations and VVIP pass for the launch event at a posh restaurant on the outskirts of the city on Friday. Apparently, the state government has already given the required permission.

This has not been the first time that the brand has been associated with Hyderabad. Sherlyn Chopra, the first Indian to pose nude for the magazine, also hails from the city. This time now, the iconic bunnies of Playboy in Hyderabad would be serving drinks – but they won't be wearing the revealing outfits that have come to be associated with the famous name.

For a country where the magazine is not permitted owing to obscenity laws, demure would be the name of the game, with strictly no nudity allowed. In deference to a flurry of controversy that had surrounded Playboy Club launch in Candolim, a customised design for the Indian bunny uniform was also launched. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner had made the final decision on the design. US-based designer Mohini Tadikonda reworked the iconic costume, adding long drapes of chiffon to the bottom half - the upper half with the satin bustier.

To satisfy the country’s obscenity laws, PB Lifestyle said the traditional bunny outfit with bodices, bow ties, bunny ears and bunny tails would be tamed. “We are clear about one thing: There will absolutely be no nudity. The bunnies would be suited to Indian sensibilities and moral values,” Sanjay Gupta, CEO of PB Lifestyle, said in an article. All these were in coherence with the launch in Goa, when the bunny training was also done in full swing. A report had also emerged that six hired bunnies — all foreign women — arrived in India and underwent “a rigorous four-week service training programme conducted by the US-based parent company” to prepare for the leporine role.

PB Lifestyle is planning to build more establishments in India with the Playboy brand, including one in Mumbai as well as hotels and cafes numbering up to 120 in the next 10 years. Gupta said he wanted to separate the powerful Playboy brand from its adult associations, remaking it as an aspirational lifestyle brand for the growing Indian middle class. The California-based adult entertainment brand operates more than 40 Playboy Clubs worldwide.