NEW DELHI: India's first ever Playboy cover girl Sherlyn Chopra has sparked more controversy in the country, reportedly going bare for 22 hours straight recently, the Times of India reported. A source for the newspaper says that the actress stayed nude for almost 22 hours on the sets of the movie as she portrays the sultry Kaamdevi in the movie. That was all not enough as Sherlyn Chopra has also gone bold and posted a picture on twitter that shows her wearing nothing. She is seen covering her nudity with a mere cup of coffee. Her recent foray into the adult magazine industry has left the much conservative India on edge, wondering how the nudity will play out across the country and the world. "It is disgusting that she wants everyone to see her naked body and using sex to have a career," Reeta, a 34-year-old mother of two, told Bikyanews.com. "I find it hard to talk about empowerment when she does this." Some of her fans commented that she looked sensual and not vulgar in the video. Chopra's cover shoot with American adult magazine Playboy went on stands recently, although banned in India, again highlighting the use of women's bodies in the country. 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 Bikyanews.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 – although officially banned in India – 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 Bikyanews.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. Chopra is 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 during the shoot, 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." BN
