India is all set to get its first Playboy club starting next month which will focus on glamour and not on nudity.
Playboy Lifestyle, which has got the rights of the brand, on Thursday announced its plan of opening its first outlet in Goa. The PB lifestyle intends to set up eight clubs in the next three years and around 120 clubs, hotels and cafés across the country in the next ten years, according to BBC news.
The 22,000-square-foot new club will open at Candolim beach, North Goa, by mid-December, ANI quoted Playboy (PB) Lifestyle's Chief Sanjay Gupta as saying. The club will offer alcoholic drinks served by "Playboy bunnies" sans traditional revealing outfits.
Playboy and several other adult magazines like Debonair are banned in Indian under its obscenity laws.
Playboy bunnies, waitresses at the club, are usually dressed in "bunny suit" which is inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs and a fluffy rabbit tail, but in India the costume would be set according to India's conservative values.
"Bunnies are an integral part of Playboy clubs. For the obvious reasons of Indian morality and sensibilities, we can't follow the traditional costumes that Playboy bunnies are associated with," AFP quoted Gupta as saying.
However, the new costumes of the bunnies will be revealed at the club's launch.
Earlier this year, Bollywood actress Sherlyn Chopra became the first Indian model to pose naked for the cover page of the iconic adult magazine Playboy. Chopra will appear in the November issue of the men's magazine.
When AFP asked about her views on the first Playboy club in India, Chopra tweeted saying, "Super excited! It ain't about nudity ... (it is) about introducing a lifestyle of fun (and) glamor."
While the PB Lifestyle chief has said that they won't follow the traditional bunnies costumes, tourist officials in Goa has warned the local franchisee of shutting down the club if they found out any evidence of "obscenity", "vulgarity" or "nudity".
"They may brand the club as Playboy but if they indulge in obscenity, vulgarity or nudity, then we will withdraw their permission immediately," Goa's director of tourism Nikhil Desai, told AFP.
The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts which was operated and owned by Playboy Enterprises. The first club was opened on Feb. 29, 1960, in Chicago, US.
