Hef no! Playboy magazine has decided to cover up all its naughty acts. Come March 2016 you will no longer need to hide your magazines from your mother. In fact, if you have some old issues of the magazine save ’em, ’coz they’ll soon be collector’s items (this one is especially for our news editor, who has a particularly coveted issue with Sharon Stone posing on the cover).
After 62 years, the founder of the magazine, Hugh Hefner has decided to ‘grow up’ and stop publishing nude photographs of women. But, boys will be boys; the redesigned magazine will still continue to publish provocative photographs.
Sorry bunny, we feel for you. But if this makes you feel any better, you’re not alone. In the land of bunnies, your story is quite similar to that of our desi bunny, Lijjat papad (kurram kurram).
Let The Quint tell you the tales of the two bunnies.
The End of an Era
Times are definitely changing. Who would have thought that nude would soon become old news for a magazine that established its brand on Kate Moss’ curves? With a sea of pornographic material and titillating photographs just one click away, racy images in a magazine are now almost ho-hum.
Good ’ol ‘Lijjat papad’ faced pretty much the same fate. The infectious laughter of the iconic 80s bunny was soon drowned out by the sound of chips, wafers and American junk food being deep-fried in oil. Fancy packets of branded papads, nachos and what-not (easily available in shopping malls) soon took over and bumped the bunny out.
Nari Shakti
Would we surprise you if we told you both bunnies ran on women power? We’ll tell you how.
In 1959, Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad – aka Lijjat – an organisation aiming to empower women – invaded the erstwhile unexplored world of papad. It was this feisty group that served up roasted treats to the Indian household. It was these naaris that revolutionised Indian snack eating.
The naris have definitely ruled the world of Playboy – and how. Er, perhaps not in a manner very akin to the Lady Lijjats, but Playboy certainly became what it is because of the ladies on its cover. Playboy’s bunnies were legendary and pretty much anybody could be a bunny. Super-empowered celebrities and B-grade models posed happily in front of the shutterbugs in nothing but their birthday suit.
Droolworthy
Playboy magazine and Lijjat papad may be poles apart but here’s something they have in common – oodles of oomph and masala. The pages of the glossy appealed to a range of salivating men from the ages of 15 to 50, and many a man swore by it. Whether you snuck it into your office bathroom or perused it happily in your bedroom, Playboy was your friend in need.
And what of Lijjat? Garam chai and sizzling papads were what many a dreamy Indian evening was made of, back in the 90s. That jingle – “Chai coffee ke sang khaiye, karram kurram, mehmanon ko khush karjaye, kurram karram, Mazedar lazzatdar swaad swaad mein lazzat Lijjat papad” still brings back warm, fuzzy memories. It’s what brought the big, fat Indian phamily together.
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