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It is one of my dreams to be featured in Playboy

For a woman born and brought up in a conservative Kerala village to be an international bikini model is an unusual choice of career. Even more unusual, 25-year-old Resmi R Nair is a wife and the mother of a three-year old!

In this telephone interview, a self-confident Resmi talks about her work, what it means to her, and how people react to it.

How did you become a model?

A friend of my husband was making a Tamil film and wanted a model in a bikini but couldn’t find a girl to his liking. He had seen me in a bikini when our families had gone on a holiday. So he asked me whether I could do the role.

I had no problem doing it. After that, I felt why not make it a career?

There was this hidden desire in me to be a model. 

'There are not many bikini-modelling opportunities in Chennai'

In India, not many middle-class women wear bikinis. Have you always done so?

Whenever we holidayed on the beach, I used to wear a two-piece bikini. I am very comfortable wearing them. In fact, I enjoy wearing them.

Does your husband have any problem with you being a bikini model?

My husband Rahul Pasupalan was my senior at the engineering college we attended. We got married when we were still students.

We lived in Chennai till a few months ago, but I found that there are not many bikini-modelling opportunities in Chennai. I was getting a lot of offers from Kerala, so we decided to move to Kerala.

If I am working as a bikini model today, obviously it is with his support. He has always been a guiding force, supportive and encouraging, and respects me for who I am.

I always discuss the assignments with him. He gives me his feedback but the final decision is always mine.

You are described as the first international bikini model from Kerala. Why did you decide to be a bikini model?

I like to wear bikinis and am comfortable modelling in a bikini whether it is inside the studio or outside on location.

There are many, many models in India and also in Kerala. But very few are ready to model in a bikini, especially in Kerala. So when photographers want a model in a bikini, they come to me.

'What is wrong in appreciating beauty?'

You have been featured in international magazines. How did those assignments happen?

I have been featured in M&M magazine, Modelup’s June and August issues, Modelzview, April and September issues.

It happened through a co-ordinator. I am the first South Indian model to be featured in all of them. The photo shoots happened in Malaysia and Singapore. My first pictures were titled, ‘Resmi's sexual fantasies’!

How has the response been?

The most surprising and pleasant result was, I was approached by Playboy magazine!

They didn’t know that I lived in India. It seems I have to be in the US and hold a green card to shoot for them. But it may happen once they start an Indian edition. It was a huge loss for me.

It is one of my dreams to be featured in Playboy!

What’s the difference between shooting abroad and in India?

I now understand the difference between how photographers here and there work. Here, you don't feel that comfortable, but abroad, you don't feel you are wearing something different. For them, it is as if you are wearing a sari.

Though I restrict the number of people at a shoot, here there are problems like people taking pictures of you on their mobiles, etc.

In India, people don't like to expose their bodies. You are an exception.

I feel you don't have to be ashamed of your body at all. If you have beauty, if you have a good body, why not show it? What is wrong in appreciating beauty?

At just five feet, you are short for an international model.

For them, the physique and attitude are more important. They are not bothered whether you are skinny or short or tall or fat.

If you are confident about your body and have good attitude, they will be happy with you.

'Neither my parents nor Rahul's parents encourage or discourage what I do'

You have a three-year-old son. How did you get back into shape after childbirth?

I have always been like this and pregnancy and childbirth did not change my body.

Fortunately for me, I do not have to diet or work out. I eat very little and eat healthy.

Would you like to be a film actress?

I have decided that my career lies in modelling. I am not interested in films though I get a lot of offers.

But I would most probably be acting in a movie to be shown first at the Cannes film festival and later at other festivals. The director told me there would be nudity and sexuality in the film. I said I had no problem.

You also run an events management company...

Yes, my husband and I and other partners run E2F-Events and a fashion company. I also have plans to start a studio.

I also aspire to be a scriptwriter. My husband has directed a short film titled Kallanum Policum Oru Saakha Undakiya Katha based on my script. It will premiere in January and it will be released on YouTube.

How did your parents and relatives react to you modelling in a bikini?

Neither my parents nor Rahul's parents encourage or discourage what I do. They don't interfere. I have every right to choose a profession that I want to and nobody has any right to tell me what I should do.

But many of my relatives ask my parents why I do this.

When I told my husband that the life span of a model is limited, he showed me pictures of international models who are 60 years old! There are models with four-five children.

They are my inspiration, especially Anna Braga. It all depends on how you maintain yourself, your attitude and confidence. What you need is passion for your work.