'We were actually looking at a topless Marilyn Monroe'

In 1953, a classmate had got hold of the first issue of Playboy, recalls theatre and advertising personality Alyque Padamsee. The copy circulated among the boys in the class, all of them wanting to have a peek at a nude Marilyn Monroe, called the 'sweetheart of the month' before the term Playmate was introduced. "We were actually seeing a topless girl and, that too, Marilyn Monroe!" says Padamsee.

Alyque Padamsee, Anil Dharker and Ashok Row Kavi

But that wasn't all, he adds. While they adored the magazine, Hugh Hefner became the ideal for the college boy - a sophisticated man about town with cultivated tastes and well-tailored suits. "The magazine had a huge gamut of wonderful interviews. I picked up from Playboy that you couldn't match brown shoes with a black suit," Padamsee says of the days before Playboy was banned in India.

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First issue of Playboy magazine, featuring Marilyn Monroe. Pic/Getty Images

For the sophisticated man
It is odd to think that a magazine, which had a semi-nude model spread-eagled on the centrefold in every issue, could nurture sophistication, but that could well be the case with Playboy and Indian magazine Debonair.

On his travels abroad, Anil Dharker, founder-director of a popular literary festival in the city, still encounters middle-aged doctors and CEOs who all read Debonair back when they were medical or engineering students. "I am glad to think that it turned some of them to the habit of reading," says Dharker, who was editor of the magazine in the 1980s.

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A slew of magazines in India, both in English and regional languages, followed the Playboy legacy, but not all made the mark. "There were some that were daring, if I may use the word, but there was no sophistication. We called them MM - masturbation magazines," says Padamsee.

Playboy copycats, such as Debonair that launched in 1973, were also curtailed by stricter censorship laws and India's conservative outlook. The kind of nudes that Playboy could bring to its readers were just not possible here. The bunny's tail was clipped short. Those like Padamsee sought out friends overseas who could smuggle in Playboy issues. "My sister continued to mail me Playboy, but only after she tore the covers," says Padamsee.

Not just nudes
Ashok Row Kavi, the founder-chairperson of the Humsafar Trust, was the first assistant editor of Debonair when it launched. There was a market for the kind of material that was catered by Playboy, if the bridge across Dadar Flower Market was any indication. "Those days, the bridge had a number of stalls that sold audio-pornography with the sounds of women making orgasmic sounds," he laughs. "Ours was a bum-and-tits magazine, out and out. We had articles that catered to the tastes of men, such as cocktails and underwear, initially. But it became more intellectual under later editors and thus confused readers about its USP," he says.

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The intellectualisation of the magazine, counters Dharker, is what led to its success. His view is that some of the best writing and interviews were to be found in Debonair, which he describes as a literary magazine. "Playboy too saw some of the best writers of the century, such as Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, contributing to it. The writing that was wrapped around the unwrapped models mattered too," says Dharker.

Celebrating the female form
With its aesthetic nudes, Playboy treaded the fine line between pornographic sleaze and erotica, with arguments that can be easily made for both camps. The difference, says Row Kavi, can only be understood by men who know both.

"Playboy had a different female aesthetic and it played up the female form. It was accused of airbrushing, for the models were flawless. I am not trying to glorify it, but the nude was celebrated in Playboy," says Dharker.

The aesthetically-shot nudes in Playboy (which had photographers such as Arny Freytag and Suze Randall working for them) was a distinguishing feature, maintain both Dharker and Row Kavi.

With the advent of women's liberation and easy access to nudity through the Internet, the days when Playboy and its acolytes were relevant began to wither and fade. But during its time, Playboy meant a new look at sex and sexuality for the Indian boy, says Padamsee. He explains, "Playboy removed the hushed tones with which sex was discussed. It showed us that sex was one of the more pleasurable activities on this planet, like cricket and food. Just look at the amount of space that magazines now dedicate to food! It has overtaken sex!"

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