Bombay – Mallika Sherawat might not make it to the Playboy centrefold, but girls of Indian origin are hot property in the adult-modelling world

While Mallika Sherawat’s fans might be dreaming of seeing her on the centrefold of Playboy, the big question is, did the magazine really offer an assignment to the Bollywood babe? “Apparently not,” says Bill Farley, vice-president, Playboy Inc.

Even though, girls of Indian origin are making it big in the world of adult modelling, Mallika’s dream of making it to Playboy seems like a distant fantasy. “I’ve been reading stories about Playboy making an offer to her, but that’s not true at all. I’ve even checked with our photo director; he denies it. We’ve not got in touch with Mallika. But if she’s interested, she can send us her photos, we’ll consider her.”

Is the high-profile erotic magazine interested in Bollywood girls? “Sure. Indian girls are very beautiful. We’d love to have some of them here with us. And Bollywood’s really happening right now. I’ve not seen any Bollywood films, but I’ve seen Monsoon Wedding . We’ve not had many Indian girls as Playboy ‘s playmates, apart from two or three. One of them is Nicole Narain. She was our Miss January 2002 Playmate. She’s also close to Hugh Hefner. Otherwise, not many Indian girls have worked with us. But Indian girls are making it big in world fashion. It might be the right time, for us to have some of them work with us here,” says Farley.

Dusky-looking Nicole Narain has been modelling for Playboy and Mardi Gras since 1998. There’s only a hint of ‘Indianness’ in her background: the family name is Narain. “I was born in Illinois, near Chicago. My mother makes the best chicken curry. I had been modelling off and on since I was 12, but I’d never posed nude. I wanted to try something new. Playboy signed me immediately and it wasn’t long before I started modelling for Book of Lingerie ,” says Narain.

Narain’s assignments with Playboy have been fun. She loves doing the centrefold. “I really like my shots on the beach, where I’m covered in nothing but shells. Since, I’ve become a Playmate I’ve gotten recognised on the streets quite often. My family is very proud of the fact that I’m a Playmate,” says Narain. On her website, she confesses how the coolest person she’s met is Nicolas Cage. “Once, at a Playboy party, I sat up all night just talking to him. He’s an incredibly interesting person.”

Moving on to the US porn scene, two Indian girls, Sunny Leone and Angela Devi, are making waves and money too. While Sunny was the Penthouse ‘Pet of the Year’ in 2003, she attends college and hopes “to become a registered nurse soon.” Angela has been modelling for Hustler . “It’s great being a model. In my spare time, I love riding my horse and playing with my bunny,” says 23-year-old Sunny, born in Ontario.

If there’s a darker side to the world of adult modelling, they don’t want to know. Right now, the girls are having a blast. Says 25-year-old Angela Devi, who is a star in the porn industry, “My parents are from New Delhi, but I was born in New York. My parents are fascinated with the Taj Mahal. I want to become a corporate CPA and to have a loving family with two beautiful children. I love modelling as a hobby.”

The list of Indian girls making a name for themselves in the world of adult modelling is long: there’s Charmaine Sinclair, a half-Indian, half-Jamaican girl who hosts the adult channel in UK; Satinder is the editor of Asian Babes magazine in England. The signal is clear, if desi girls continue dominating the international adult-modelling world, India might have to outsource some hot photo-shoots and sizzling models for Playboy and Penthouse.