Actress puts finger on bikini pic

South Indian actress Khushboo 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 apologised 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, said 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 apologised and we are quite taken aback by this (legal notice)," Mehra said. "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 apologised 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.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7242_1627231,00180007.htm

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