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'Fifty Shades of Grey' inspires Mumbaikars to get kinky

While Sam Taylor-Johnson's erotic 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (FSG) is yet to be cleared by the Indian censor board, in these tech-savvy times the R-rated version of the film and the dare-to-bare NC-17 version are readily found on the PCs of tech-savvy viewers. And while Universal Pictures may anxiously wait for its Indian cash registers to begin ringing, FSG-inspired runaway sales of BDSM sex toys like handcuffs, restraints, gags, muzzles, masks, blindfolds, collars, harnesses, floggers, whips and paddles are making offline and online vendors happy several times over.

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While Sam Taylor-Johnson's erotic 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (FSG) is yet to be cleared by the Indian censor board, in these tech-savvy times the R-rated version of the film and the dare-to-bare NC-17 version are readily found on the PCs of tech-savvy viewers. And while Universal Pictures may anxiously wait for its Indian cash registers to begin ringing, FSG-inspired runaway sales of BDSM sex toys like handcuffs, restraints, gags, muzzles, masks, blindfolds, collars, harnesses, floggers, whips and paddles are making offline and online vendors happy several times over.

"We generally stock Chinese-make electro-stimulators, vibrators and anal toys to supply local vendors in the Fort area of South Mumbai and shops at the Nadko shopping centre in Andheri," said Lokhandwala-based Afsar Khan Jamot whose company also supplies to several sites which retail these products. "We were surprised when demand for the BDSM stuff began peaking over a week ago. Demand for this category was less in India, though there was some in the north. Now instead of the odd piece selling once in a while, business in this category is really picking up even in Mumbai."

According to the 38-year-old marketing MBA, the demand for a certain specific type of handcuffs and harnesses led him to ask the vendors why. "One of my young vendors told me that this was because of FSG." Jamot who found even the NC-17 version a bit of a drag "when there was no 'action' involved," just shrugs his shoulders. "Jaisi bhi picture ho, apne dhande ke liye toh theek hai." Jamot's Oshiwara godown is well-stocked with products made by one Transtumm International, a Sialkot, Pakistan-based factory. "Given the strength of the demand both here and in Pune, I've placed large orders in each of these categories," said Jamot.

The products range from shiny stainless steel handcuffs which cost Rs2,500 to the full leather straitjacket body suit which costs a whopping Rs12,000. "The leather products have to be of very high quality, and the minute detailing like stitches and rivets pushes up the price," explains Jamot. "After all it wouldn't feel very good for something to snap or come apart mid-act."

And who's buying this stuff? "Except for the rare woman, its mostly men who come to regular vendors like me to buy it," explains a bashful Basheer Javed. "Male escorts and their types were regulars, now even others come to buy," said the 25-year-old whose stall is near Hutatma Chowk. Known for his stock of "inflatable dolls in all sizes," he admits to being scared of the police. "Though they pick up sex toys without even paying, they can harass us over these sales."

A Mulund resident said she found FSG quite stimulating. "Its great to watch and indulge in some fun role-play," said the deceptively conservative-looking bank employee who came with her husband to pick up a pair of arm and feet binders from Basheer. She giggled, "It's brought back magic to my three-year-old marriage when a high stress-job was leaving my hubby uninterested," she admitted, even while her husband seemed to be interested in the tiles on the pavement.

But isn't it illegal? After all e-commerce major Snapdeal has been dragged to court by a Delhi-based lawyer Suhaas Joshi for sale of sex toys under obscenity laws. But there is far from unequivocal support of the lawyer's move. Supreme court advocate Samir Vaidya says there is no question of any obscenity involved. "If the vendor has a licence to sell a product, what one does with it privately can't constitute obscenity. Otherwise anyone will get up on a whim and find anything from statue to a woman in a diaphanous sari obscene."
 

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