Dr. Ruby Dhalla, courtesy www.rubydhalla.ca
When the young Indian Canadian beauty queen Ruby Dhalla acted in a Hindi movie called “Kyon Kis Liye” (Why, what for?) in 2003 she may not have planned to run for the country’s parliament. Six years hence the 35-year-old is now a Member of Parliament and is scrambling to prevent the distribution of the film’s DVD as it contains some steamy stuff.
She says the film’s producers have “put my face on someone else's body, in clothes I never wore.” Dhalla, incidentally, was named third on the list of sexiest women politicians in the world by Maxim magazine.
In a statement Dhalla, who is a doctor, says, "The producers have super-imposed and doctored images of myself for their personal opportunistic gain. Despite notices from lawyers to immediately cease and desist, the producers continue to use my name, image and involvement without my consent.
"I have worked extremely hard to get to where I am and will not be exploited by individuals. I have taken and will continue to take all necessary legal action to stop this opportunism, defamation, slander and exploitation by the producers.''
The film’s producer and her co-star Charanjit Sihra has claimed he has her written consent and he has not changed anything. "That is her. That is her body. That is her face,'' he has been quoted as saying by the Hamilton Spectator newspaper.
In the interest of fairness, I am refraining from commenting on this one.