Veena Malik appears nude on the cover of India's edition of FHM magazine this month with a tattoo of the initials "ISI" on her arm. But the Pakistani actress says the photo is fake. The nude cover photo roused much controversy amongst conservatives in Pakistan, not only for the nudity but for the tattoo, which refers to Pakistan's intelligence agency.
"I have never posed nude. I have never done anything like that ever. My manager and legal team is looking into the matter. We will take legal action against them," 33-year-old Malik told PTI of her feature article entitled, "Pakistani WMD Veena Malik on Asif, burqas and work visas."
Sohail Rashid, her representative, verified her claims with The Express Tribune. "Veena knows her limits," Rashid said. "I know we have done quite bold stuff/shoots, those which are available on our website, but she knows her parameters. Yes we need to be bold for international magazines, but she won't cross her limits."FHM India editor Kabeer Sharma, however, said the photo was not "morphed" as Malik said.
"We have video footage of the shoot as well as emails from Veena about how she's looking forward to the cover," Sharma told BBC. "The photo shoot was done in Mumbai on November 22. We have a video of the photo shoot."
Sharma even went as far as saying the FHM magazine could prove the authenticity of the photo, that it was never altered or doctored. The photo shows Malik nude with her arms and legs hiding her private areas. On her left arm, a tattoo reads "ISI" for the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. The cover of the magazine has another headline, which reads: "hand in the end of the world too?"
Sharma said the reference to was intended to be to be a joke. "In India we joke about this... if anything goes wrong... we say the ISI must be behind this," he told BBC.
Malik first entered fame for starring in "Lollywood" movies, a term dubbed for films in Lahore, Pakistan, and most recently appeared last year in the Indian reality series "Big Boss 4." Malik made headlines worldwide again earlier this year, but for another controversy: a rebuttal to a Pakistani cleric that Muslim women should always be covered.
'If a woman is cool with wearing a burqa, she should wear a burqa. If a woman, being a Muslim, wants to wear jeans, then she should wear jeans,' she told The Australian in January.