Former Canadian Actress Protests Film Poster

In the movie marketing and PR story of the day, Ruby Dhalla a one-time Bollywood starlet-turned-politician is trying to block promotional posters of a movie she starred in.

Back in 2003, Dhalla was among the cast of the low budget Hindi movie Kyon Kis Liye (Why? And for Whom?). About a year later, she was elected to the Canadian parliament.

It’s not unusual for obscure actresses to all over sudden get top billing on DVD-reissues and other promotional materials when they suddendly achieve notoriety, but in Dhalla’s case she’s convinced that her new status as a politician is being exploited. She sounded off to the Toronto Sun, saying:

“They are misrepresenting myself.… they put my face on someone else’s body in clothes I never wore.”

Dhalla would have done better not to bring attention to the DVD cover-doctoring. Now a movie being nearly six years after its original release is going to get a heck of word of mouth promotion from all the ensuing media attention. But in an industry such as Bollywood where movie releases get lost in the shuffle, this must surely be welcomed attention for the movie’s backers.