Veena Malik’s publicity stunt secret revealed by fashion designer Umair Zafar

By Flynn Remedios – MumbaiWire.in

Finally the cat is out of the bag on the Veena Malik nude photo controversy. Mumbai-based fashion designer and stylist Umair Zafar who has done several shoots with controversial photographer Vishal Saxena spilled the beans on the Veena Malik-FHM cover shoot controversy to journalist Flynn Remedios of MumbaiWire.in today.

Says Umair Zafar, “A few days before the FHM cover was out, photographer Vishal Saxena told me to be prepared for a big ‘dhamaka”. According to Umair Zafar, Saxena told him that the entire thing between Veena Malik and FHM magazine was pre-planned. “Veena Malik did the shoot topless with her hands covering the upper part of her body. She was wearing a bikini panty below, which was later on morphed and removed by photographer Vishal Saxena. All this was pre-decided and agreed upon by all concerned. In order to save face and the repurcussions that it could have both in Pakistan and in India – and yet avail of all the publicity – Veena Malik and FHM magazine had pre-decided that Veena Malik would send a defamation notice to the magazine and the magazine in turn would then send her a counter-notice. Yeah sab mili bhagat hein,” said Umair Zafar, adding that the entire episode had been meticulously planned by Veena Malik, her manager, photographer Vishal Saxena and FHM magazine representatives. “Even the defamation notice was prepared in advance, he said.

“I have done many shoots with Vishal Saxena and have styled clothes for Sayali Bhagat, Nisha Kothari, etc. Vishal specialises in nude shoots and has done several such shoots with Sherlyn Chopra, Priya Soni, etc., the photos of which are freely available on the internet. Vishal, Veena and FHM magazine have planned this entire publicity stunt to further Veena Malik’s prospects on the Reality Show on Imagine channel, Veena Malik ka Swayamvar,” said Umair, explaining that even top bosses at Imagine channel were aware of this entire publicity stunt.

Speaking to Flynn Remedios, Umair Zafar said that photographer Vishal Saxena had told him on Facebook chat that Veena Malik was even ready to shoot completely in the buff if it got her the required publicity. “Vishal told me, she wanted a big blast. A huge dhamaka that would catapult her to the top of the charts and make her a household name in India. She wants to be more popular than Kareena Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan put together. Bigg Boss last year gave her some mileage but she was not able to get much out of that show. She wanted the big bucks and was ever ready to do anything for it,” Umair said.

Photographer Vishal Saxena when contacted said that he only did as he was told by the editor of the magazine FHM. ‘I do not know anything about this matter or publicity stunt. I was told to do a shoot and was given reference photos for the same. All that I can say is that Veena Malik was very happy with the photos. I handed over the raw images (unedited images) to them immediately after the shoot was over. I can’t speak for the magazine. Please talk to Kabeer Sharma about all this. I cannot comment on anything,” was Vishal Saxena’s response. Editor of FHM, Kabeer Sharma was not reachable, inspite several attempts to contact him.