Farhad J. Dadyburjor is the editor of FHM India and has been with the publication since 1st July 2007, though the magazine was actually launched on 19th October 2007. The average pagination of the magazine is 164 pages. The readership of FHM India is over six lakhs.

Dadyburjor was a part of the core start-up team that published the first-ever DNA newspaper in Mumbai.

Why is there a market for FHM India now? Who is your typical reader?

The publishing firm, Next Gen Publishing, carried out a market survey five years ago and found that it was still a bit too early to launch. The market was not ready. Then they did another survey two years ago, and got a very favourable response. The time was ripe. Though, to be honest, the men's magazine market in India is actually developing all the time.

My typical reader likes a mix of eye-candy and brain-candy. He is interested in the latest celebrities, cars, hottest girls, designer brands, sex tips, fashion trends, career advice, fitness workouts and everything else that goes into a man's world.

He appreciates the kind of humour you get in FHM UK; we have never had that kind of humour here in magazines before.

There is, however, less of a lads culture here [compared to Britain]. My readers are upwardly mobile professional young Indians who are very focused on gaining a good job, a good pay packet and want to live like Bollywood stars.

The 'me culture' is very much in here.

How different is FHM India from FHM UK?

To be honest, FHM UK stopped being a tits-and-ass magazine a long time ago. It has become more stylish and cool – and is currently the smartest men's magazine in the world. That is the lead that we follow.

At FHM India, we tend to focus on A-listers [such as Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor or Padma Lakshmi]. The idea is to make the girls look as glamorous as possible - like you have never seen before.

We tend to turn up the heat [sex] in some issues and then cool it down in others. The issue that included FHM's calendar was a huge sell-out.

We have kept the humour intact and have kept the women looking really hot and have tried to create a complete men's magazine.

My readers are just glad that there is finally a stylish, fun men's magazine with some eye-candy in it, which they can afford easily.

What is Rebecca Loos doing in your latest edition?

David Beckham is big in India [his publisher has a poster of Beckham in his office]. When I saw how hot the photos of Rebecca Loos were, I thought we should use them in my magazine. Besides, nobody knew what really happened to her post-scandal – so it would make interesting reading.

FHM India has access to content from all 33 editions around the world. It is a very organised, efficient form of content sharing thanks to our UK mates. Similarly, some of our content - like the Tommy Hilfiger interview - gets picked up by other editions for use.

Can your reader take FHM India home?

That is something we have always been aware of and something we have to be constantly be careful about.

The front cover should never offend because I want people to be able to read the magazine on the train and on the bus. To have to put a magazine face down on the table is pointless. So we always make sure we're on the right side of sexy.

What has been a highlight of your time at the helm of FHM India?

The launch was the biggest party that Mumbai has seen in a long time. We had Lakshmi Mittal and Shah Rukh Khan turn up, not to mention the entire fashion fraternity, socialites and models galore.

The photo shoot with Ujjwala Raut for the first edition looked fantastic. We shot it in London and it was two days in and out of madness, fun and naturally, plenty of oomph.

I think the important thing has always been to get the right cover girl at the right moment – when she's really the IT girl of the moment. Which is what we've managed to do – whether with Deepika Padukone or Padma Lakshmi.

Any lowlight?

As a rule, we can't put men on the cover of FHM. And in India, the biggest superstars are men – like Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan. So we're trying to work around that... though, not that the guys over here are complaining!

What is the future of FHM in India and the future of the city of Mumbai?

People in Mumbai know what they want and are determined to get it. Everyone's very focussed and aspirational in their attitude, which is exactly what we're tapping into with FHM.

The biggest brands are coming here and the luxury market is peaking like never before. Fashion is at an all-time high and men's fashion is finally getting the due spotlight it deserves. Today's guy wants it all – and more. And we plan to give him that with FHM!

Interview by Hamant Verma, editor of Eastern Eye for BizAsia.co.uk