14 DAY TRIAL // The cover of December 2011 issue of FHM India is getting people from India and Pakistan fuming mad, as it depicts Pakistani actress Veena Malik wearing nothing but a sultry gaze. She, on the other hand, is denying she was ever in such a state of disrobement as pictured.
Having photos digitally altered to look better is a common practice in today's media, but Malik is accusing FHM of a more scandalous deed, the New York Daily News writes.
She's saying that they took her photo and removed her clothes in Photoshop to make her appear as if she'd posed like this.
Given how much debate and controversy the cover in question ignited both in India and Pakistan, Malik wants FHM to pay and preferably also issue a statement to admit to what they did.
She's suing the mag and asking for $2 million (€1.48 million) as damages.
“Conservative Muslim clerics in her home country slammed the shot as an insult to Islam, while Pakistan's government has promised to investigate whether the image was doctored,” the NY Daily News writes of the controversial cover.
“I agreed to a photo shoot and having an ISI tattoo in a humorous way but I did not have any nude photos. My pictures have been morphed,” Malik said in a statement to a local newspaper.
She's referring to the ISI tattoo on her arm in the pic. ISI is Pakistan's intelligence agency.
While the actress and model believes she stands a chance in court, FHM is denying her claims and even says it can prove her photos weren't doctored – at least, not with the purpose of removing items of clothing.
“Maybe she is facing some kind of backlash, so maybe that's why she is denying it. We have not photoshopped or faked the cover. This is what she looks like, she has an amazing body,” a spokesperson for the magazine says.
Oddly enough, another version of the cover has also emerged online and it seems to confirm Malik's accusation, the aforementioned publication writes.
It shows the star in the tiniest pair of army shorts, with one hand covering her chest, while she's “munching” on a grenade. In other words, even if tiny, she does have some clothing on her.