Film producer defends MP's sexy shots
Ruby Dhalla wants Bollywood-style video banned from shelves
PHOTO GALLERY: Controversial photos, plus hottest MPs on Hill.
TORONTO -- The producer of a Bollywood-style film which co-stars Ruby Dhalla -- a Brampton MP since 2004 -- yesterday defended it and publicity photos as unaltered.
Charanjit "Chico" Sihra denied Dhalla's claims images of her were doctored. Dhalla is threatening court action to prevent the movie from being distributed as a DVD on Canadian store shelves.
"They're the true pictures from the movie," he said from his Hamilton autobody shop.
"We never changed that and put her face on anyone else," Sihra said. "The film is very clean and she did a great job.
"If she has a problem with it, it is because she is an MP," he said.
Kyon? Kis Liye? -- translated as Why? And for Whom? -- is a six-year-old Hindi film that tells of a man poisoning his wife to collect insurance.
Expressing admiration for the 35-year-old Brampton-Springdale MP as an attractive, smart woman and good actress, Sihra said changing her image would hurt his future film-making plans.
"I have a family and I'm from the Indian community," Sihra said. "We want to have a good reputation."
Predicting production on his next Bollywood-style movie in Hamilton will begin this summer, he said "I don't want to make a bad movie."
Sihra said copies of the 2003 film are not available, "but they will be released in the next couple of weeks.
"It's a free country and she and her lawyers can do anything they want to, we are prepared to go ahead," he said.
Sihra said the two-hour, 10-minute movie "was financed by me," for about $200,000.
Not recalling the amount of government money provided, he said federal funds were granted for the premiere at a theatre, which Sheila Copps attended.
In an interview Wednesday, Dhalla called Sihra and the distributer "opportunists" who are trying to boost sales on her MP's reputation.
Claiming she has not seen the film since filming wrapped up in Hamilton six years ago, she suggested still pictures "may be doctored."
IAN.ROBERTSON@SUNMEDIA.CA 
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