Kabeer Sharma, the Editor of FHM tells International Business Times,
"We had two options for the shoot. The first was the one that appears on the FHM cover of December. The other, where Veena poses nude with a grenade in between her teeth, was deemed slightly explosive, so we rejected it."
“We had approached Veena directly instead of going through her publicists and most of the correspondence was done via emails. While shooting for the photo-op Veena seemed very happy and comfortable. In fact, we shoot with celebs regularly and I must say she was one of the celebs who have been easier to shoot with," said Sharma, who was present at the shoot," he tells the paper. “She was very comfortable with her sexuality. Every detail including the ISI tattoo concept had been clarified to her and we went ahead with the shoot only after she okayed it. The idea to have ISI written on her arm was mine, and it was Veena's idea to have it in block letters,” Sharma told the daily.
Sharma insists they don't need to resort to controversy by morphing the pic. He told the daily, "At FHM, the biggest lifestyle magazine here, we do not need to resort to controversy… For us, it is another beautiful cover," clarified Sharma, when talking about the accusations of the shoot being a publicity stunt."
