Indian actress puts her figure on swimsuit “photo”

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) – An Indian actress is seeking 30
million rupees ($677,800) in damages from the local edition of
British men’s magazine Maxim after it published a faked picture
of her in a skimpy swimsuit.

“The photograph has caused loss of reputation and damage to
my client and her image has been lowered in society,”
Khushboo’s lawyer R. Karthikeyan said.

“We want them to cough up the money in three weeks or face
action,” he said, adding Maxim had been sent a legal notice.

A men’s lifestyle magazine, Maxim was recently launched in
India. It has apologized to Khushboo, a major south Indian
star, for causing “inadvertent hurt.”

The controversial picture had Khushboo’s face imposed on
the body of a woman wearing a two-piece swimming costume.

Maxim’s India editor, Sunil Mehra, told Reuters the
magazine was also publishing an apology in its next issue which
would hit the news stands by the end of the month.

“We have already apologized and we are quite taken aback by
this (legal notice),” Mehra told Reuters. “We are willing to
talk and assuage her hurt feelings. It (the picture) was a
spoof and even carried the headline ’100 percent fake’.”

A mother of two, Khushboo is recovering from a major
controversy after she said there was nothing wrong with
pre-marital sex as long as the girl protected herself against
sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

Although she apologized for the comments made last year,
conservative social and political groups have physically
attacked her, including hurling eggs, sandals and tomatoes
whenever she steps from her house.

($1=44.26 rupees)