'Wasn't emulating Playboy by having Protima Bedi streaking for debut cover'

The idea behind model and dancer Protima Bedis controversial debut cover of the magazine Cine Blitz where she was pictured streaking on Juhu beach was not to emulate Playboy says Rita Mehta the former owner and publisher of the magazine Rita is the daughter of the late Russi Karanjia the honcho of magazine When the publication was to be launched in 1974 they needed to create a blitzkrieg of sorts Since a product especially the first one is judged by its cover the idea was to get an actress to streak said Rita who was just back from journalism school in England thenRita MehtaBringing in BediRita who now divides her time between Mumbai and Dubai now added The idea was to create a splash We were coming in quite late into a market which had a lot of competition so how were we going to attract the buyer and reader Rita adds We thought of Protima Bedi because she was such an openthinking lady certainly way ahead of her timeAlso read This inviteonly Playboy Club in Mumbai is frequented by Bollywood celebsI asked her would you do it And she said yes why not I did not expect an answer like why not So that was that then We shot the streaking scene twice Tyeb Badshah was the photographer We also shot very early morning on the streets at Flora Fountain which were eerily quiet at that hour said RitaWorked like magicWe shot the streaking scene at Juhu Beach In the end we used the beach scene for the cover It worked like magic and that issue which was a thick one was a sell out There was no talk of emulating Playboy then but I guess people may have thought that we were I cant say for sureAlso read Hugh Hefner dies leaves behind a controversial and undying legacyRita who is also the former owner and publisher of Cine Blitz said about Hugh Hefner and Playboy A lot depends on the kind of owner a product has The Blitz ran in my father Russi Karanjias name After his death there was no Karanjia no Blitz In that way it would be interesting to see how Playboy fares now It was Hugh Hefners image of an old man with beautiful women draped over him that kept it going said RitaAlso read Sherlyn Chopra who posed nude for Playboy reacts to Hugh Hefners deathI was utterly desperate to get out of advertising I pleaded with Susheel to give me just six months with DebonairhellipI was hired Salary Rs 2500 a month plus a reasonable entertainment allowance I was given a free hand to perform major surgery on the magazine with one condition The seminude female centre spreads would stay and the seminude males would go I agreed to the terms immediatelyVinod MehtaWhile the odds seemed stacked against me I had one slice of unexpected luck The art director turned out to be a prodigy even though he was deaf and dumb To call MG Moinuddin talented would be an understatement A couple of hours after talking to him I knew I had a genuine professional to assist me Unlike Moinuddin I had read no books on design Nevertheless I recognised at once that Debonair needed a completely new look Accordingly I spent hours at the American Library at Churchgate plundering back issues of Esquire and the New Yorker and anything else I could lay my hands on Close to my flat existed a lending library named Shemaroo The owners reserved for me in dirty brown envelopes copies of Playboy and PenthouseAlso read Hugh Hefner dead Kim Kardashian Paris Hilton mourn demise of Playboy founderAny page whose design seemed striking I photocopied Soon I accumulated sundry pages of neatly laidout edit matter Meanwhile Moinuddin was collecting his own cuttings We were a teamSusheel Somani had mandated the inclusion of two nudes the more ambitious domestic centre spread and the syndicated foreign variety purchased from King Features for R40 I had decided early on to lift the concept of the onetoone interview from Playboy The rest of the magazine I would fill with upmarket literary social and cultural stuff plus an exhaustive reviews section The design for the reviews section I copied mostly from the two British Sunday papers Even before I sat on the chair I accepted an inescapable reality the Indian nudes in Debonair would be abominable Cheap is a better word Hippies film extras whores outofwork cabaret dancers and occasionally girlfriends of photographers We paid the princely sum of Rs 250 as model fee And got what we paid for This core deficiency I planned to compensate for with an intellectual features section mdash highbrow radical lively and written hopefully by the best and the brightestIn planning and commissioning the first issue I faced a major hurdle No one was prepared to contribute to Debonair The early exit of the previous editor and the induction of one who had to his credit just two dubious paperbacks one of which eulogized prostitutes did not inspire confidence The writers I contacted fobbed me off with letmeseeyourfirstissue excuses I was left with no option but to write the entire issue under various pseudonyms A junior copywriter I had hired at Jaisons pitched in with one article I dispatched a begging letter to Tiger Pataudi to which surprisingly I got a positive reply Once the main interview was fixed the features were relatively easy to put together The Woman I Fantasised About the last page diary Psst which I logged under Gikki a family pet name The New Morality all came from a single pen MineIn April 1974 when the first issue under my editorship hit the stands the verdict not bad did not displease me or the owners Moinuddin had produced the first drawing board conceived and designed publication in India with flair style coherence and a visual neatness never seen before The use of large quotes and blurbs the extensive utilization of free space screen on text clearly designated sections fiveletter drops mini illustrations to provide relief graphics new copy font pleased the readers eye Panna Jain the countrys foremost designer at the time said to me Fantastic But I wish it wasnt a nude magazineAlso read Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner dies at the age of 91Enter Ruskin Bond Just as I joined Debonair we started serializing Ruskins novella The Sensualist The Sensualist was a departure for Mr Bond as he modestly explains Just now and then I let my hair down and indulge in a little gentle ribaldry but you can relax I am not about to offer you a plateful of pornThe Sensualist turned into a cause ceacutelegravebre It was to India what the Lady Chatterleys Lover case was to Britain In court along with Ruskin we produced doyens like Mulk Raj Anand Vijay Tendulkar and Nissim Ezekiel to defend the literary merit of the novella Mr Bond and The Sensualist got an honourable acquittal and Debonair got some honourable publicity as a publication which offered literature as well as nude womenWith permission from Vinod Mehtas Lucknow Boy published by PenguinAlso view Photos 20 Playboy mates pose in different kinds of lingerie