NEW DELHI: Despite the ongoing controversy and criticism surrounding India's Sherlyn Chopra's nude photo shoot for American adult magazine Playboy, the Bollywood actress says she remains proud of her decision. She will be the cover girl on the November issue. Playboy is banned in India. Chopra told BBC Hindi radio that she would not have missed the opportunity to pose for the magazine. She revealed that she was the one who had written to Playboy, expressing her interest in appearing in the buff. The actress sparked controversy last month when she tweeted a number of behind-the-scenes photos from the nude photoshoot. However, they were removed several hours later, but not before the pictures were captured and shared on media sites and went viral across India. She also told reporters that she is “proud to be the first Indian to do it.” For many, including book sellers in the Indian capital, Chopra is a huge pull, with expectations that her cover shoot for Playboy will bring in the rupees. “These magazines are usually gone within the first few hours when we them out," the shopkeeper told Bikyamasr.com. “It is crazy on the days they are released. Men just grab them and start flipping through." For this man, who says the bulk of his earnings come from magazines that sell sex and nudity, the upcoming Playboy magazine that will feature the first Indian on the cover, Sherlyn Chopra, is certain to be a massive hit. “We are looking to have twice as many, but that is if we can get them," he said. With Indian women's rights activists lamenting the sexualization of women in the country, they fear the backlash from Chopra's nude shoot with the American adult magazine. Although they grant Chopra the right to do what she wants with her body, show it off to whomever, including the world, they argue it could be a negative for the country, hit by a massive number of sexual violence toward women in recent months. Chopra released the photos in a series of tweets on her personal Twitter account last month. They were nude photos and almost immediately went viral across India, with men and women wanting a glimpse of their first cover girl. The nude shoot has sparked anger among women's rights advocates in the country, saying that India has already “sexualized" women and the nude shoot will only “heighten the stereotypes." Sunita Gudnanti, a social worker who works with battered women in Delhi, told Bikyamasr.com that she is disappointed in Chopra's decision to do the photo shoot. “I have heard so many stories of women being beaten up by their spouses or boyfriends because they refused to do something the man read or saw online, so the idea that an Indian woman will go nude for the magazine is likely to sexualize the issue of women's rights and heighten the stereotypes that women are objects," she said. The Indian woman has reportedly also taken up shop in Playboy owner Hugh Hefner's mansion. When published, Chopra will be the first Indian to grace the cover of the magazine. She said the shoot will be “explicit," which Gudnanti argues will be a negative for Indian society. “We deal with sexual violence towards women on a daily basis here and one of the reasons for this explosion, we believe, is that the media has sexualized and made women objects," she argued. “Look at Times of India's website and others, it is full of articles about women and sex, their bodies and images of naked or little clothed women. It is very sad," she added. Speaking to Times of India from the US, Chopra said she felt “proud to be the first Indian to do it," and added, “The youth is racing towards liberalization, and that's why being unconventional in your choices is no longer a taboo."
