Prachi Desai: The Shoot That Almost Didn't Happen

The elusive Miss Prachi Desai in the shoot that almost didn’t happen, wearing clothes that you would not expect her to…

“Is that the headline for the article?”

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“Why it’s no good?”

“It’s okay, but why would you not expect me to wear these clothes? It’s just a bustier…”

“Just a bustier? You know half the women in India would have a heart attack if you wore a bikini…”

“Why wouldn’t I wear a bikini…do you think I am abnormal?”

“Nope, not abnormal, they just don’t expect you to wear… hang on. Well, wear a bikini…a tiny one please for the shoot.”

“Hahaha…maybe next time…”

“Don’t tease…”

That’s the thing about Miss Desai, she’s having this conversation while beheading a choco chip muffin and if you haven’t seen any of her movies, you would be forgiven for thinking they’re two different human beings. Only they aren’t. The Prachi Desai you get isn’t the Prachi Desai you see.

The one we see pouting in her skirt sticking out her ample derriere and angling her body to make the perfect S went to an all-girls school, had her fair share of boyfriends and is aware that the yoga class owes half of its male attendance to yoga pants. She is “single as of today”. “The answer might have been different if you asked me a couple of days ago.” And contrary to what you might have been fed, she’s not trying too hard.

Prachi D: I have been waiting to do a shoot for FHM, not because I want to change my image but because it’s fun, it’s a lot more normal than a lot of my roles in cinema.

FHM: Surely, there must have been some opportunities for you to do a sexy role?

Prachi D: The closest I got was doing the Bobby Jig in Once Upon a Time. The shoot and the song I did in I, Me aur Hum (she was dressed like a cross between a naughty school girl and a sexy American Diner waitress) are parts of me no one has tapped.

FHM: So then there should be no stopping you now. What's next... an Item Song?

Prachi D: Absolutely. I would love to do an item song. Maybe the kind that Kareena did, whether it was Fevicol or Chammak Challo…

FHM: Those women would be having heart attacks…

Prachi D: I would rather that they look at me and think I am hot.

FHM: So, this school of yours…it was a girls only?

Prachi D: Yes. Why? Oh wait, I know…you think girls only schools are all about communal showers and girls making out…

FHM: Yes. Aren’t they?

Prachi D: Yes and no. I think a guy came up with the idea of communal showers for women. We had independent showers, but then there were stories about the nuns finding candles in the loos.

FHM: Candles...were they lit?

Prachi D: Haha…stop pretending. You know what they were used for…

FHM: What about the sportsroom? Was that the hotbed of activity?

Prachi D: You do know, if it’s a girls only school then the activity wouldn’t need to be restricted only to the sportsroom, right? Plus, I think the Library works better…when you are not being watched.

FHM: You seem to have given this a lot of thought. Did you ever get down to it?

Prachi D: Not really, but I did get hit on by a junior once! But the most fun for us happened when we moved to a co-ed junior college…a lot of the girls were…let me put this delicately - like a black man in front of a buffet table – they couldn’t get enough of the boys!

FHM: What about you?

Prachi D: I was relatively saner about it. Plus, I started working when I was 17, so I never really had the time.

FHM: But did you get hit on a fair bit?

Prachi D: Oh yeah. The most fun was a vacation I took to Melbourne…I had a rather good time.

FHM: Do you have a list of favourite holidays?

Prachi D: To be honest, I am more of a mountain person, but my friends are all beach people so I always end up on a beach. But once there we are constantly on our feet, except maybe one day when I can sit in the corner in a bikini and sip a cocktail. The rest of the days it’s beach volleyball, shopping…

FHM: Beach Volleyball…hmm, that’s hot.

FHM: Of course. You don’t?

Prachi D: There is the sea…it would be more prudent to take the shower, even though I know that would disappoint you more.

FHM: Speaking of disappointment…do girls in all-girls schools hem their skirts to make them shorter too?

Prachi D: Of course!

FHM: But why? Doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose?

Prachi D: Are you mad... We didn’t know when a boy would spot us.

FHM: Haha. So when you decide to get out of your kit, are you scared that there might be backlash?

Prachi D: I don’t care if people think I am too good to do this. If it is hot, then that is all I care about. This shoot took a while because I wanted to workout, to be the hottest I have ever been. Plus, people need to get used to it, look at all these popstars in the West... they started out with these kiddie shows – and look at Miley Cyrus now, you’d rarely spot her with her shirt on these days.

FHM: And are you the hottest you have ever been?

Prachi D: Yes, but you will still have to give me a bit before I get into a tiny bikini for a shoot. On a holiday is different…

FHM: Oh yeah. Then let’s just do a holiday, we’ll worry about the cover later…

Prachi D: Sure, let’s go to the hills. Or actually there was this island we discovered when we were travelling to Hong Kong. To get there you would have to climb over a mountain. Nice and secluded.

FHM: Nice. Sounds perfect for skinny dipping.

Prachi D: Haha! You are mad.

FHM: So seriously, if you were to wear a bikini in a movie what sort would you wear?

Prachi D: I think black. White has been done, so have pop colours and gold. Plus, I think a basic black bikini is extremely hot. Just as long as they don’t show me diving, I am really scared of water.

FHM: That’s okay. You can just emerge out of the sea in slow mo.

Prachi D: Sure, find me a role that would change my life.

FHM: Of course. . There are a couple of necessary questions before that though. When do you feel the sexiest?

Prachi D: I think I am the sexiest… when I am doing yoga.

FHM: Oh yeah? So are you flexible?

Prachi D: Extremely flexible... do you also want to tell me the asanas? You don’t know the Y of Yoga do you? You should come to a class sometime.

FHM: Men are allowed?

Prachi D: Yes. Though I think they come mostly for the yoga pants.

Prachi D: What else will you wear in a yoga class?

FHM: Yoga pants are good with us.

From the August 2013 issue of FHM India.