Lucknow HC takes up bikini case as a PIL

An Australian model wearing a bikni with a picture of a Hindu goddess on it has outraged the community.

LUCKNOW/MELBOURNE: Taking suo motu cognisance of newspaper photographs of an Australian model wearing a bikni with a picture of a Hindu goddess on it, the Allahabad high court has decided to take up the matter as a PIL.

A bench comprising justices Devi Prasad Singh and S C Chaurasia directed that the matter be registered as a PIL of criminal nature and fixed the matter for May 10 after three advocates drew the court's attention to the photographs, saying they were intended to insult the religious sentiments of the Hindu community.

Meanwhile, the Australian swimwear company which triggered the controversy apologised to the Hindu community. "We would like to offer an apology to anyone we may have offended and advise that the image of Goddess Laxmi will not appear on any piece of our swimwear for the new season, with a halt put on all production of the new range and piece shown on the runway removed," said a statement.

Soha Ali-harvard university

Soha Ali Khan is on cloud nine. the actress has been invited by Harvard University to deliver a lecture on Hindi cinema in an interactive session titled-cinema-Then & now. what's making the oxford grad student's visit to Harvard even more special is that her mother,Sharmila Tagore, would be joining her during the session. Soha's works like "Khoya Khoya Chand", "Rang De Basanti" & "Antarmahal" will also be screened during the session.

over the course of lecture, she will pay tribute to icons of Hindi cinema like Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman & her mother Sharmila Tagore. "I'm quite excited & tense about my Harvard visit," says Soha who is quite overwhelmed. "I have never really delivered a lecture on cinema before, & I will be in front of the most academic followers of Indian films there. It's a really humbling experience that i have been chosen by them to speak about Indian Cinema and that my films are also being screened."

About her lecture, Soha discloses, "I have done a thorough research of the cinema we have created over the ages. i have a pretty huge period to cover in my lecture. I will specially talk about how certain actors and actresses who've contributed towards Bollywood in a big way and helped Indian cinema to shape up as it stands today."

She adds, "I will also talk about the actors and the directors ( from both commercial and the art-house genres). Though commercial films might be called brainless films, they are the ones that the masses like and thus cannot be ignored at all."