After Veena Maik, Golshifteh Farahani goes nude; gets banned!

Not long ago, Pakistani starlet Veena Malik caused outrage when she posed nude with an ISI tattoo on her arm for the Indian edition of FHM magazine. Close on the heels of that uproar in her conservative Muslim home country, a Paris-based Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, has allegedly been banned from returning to her homeland after posing nude for a French magazine. The Telegraph from Britain has reported that Iranian government officials have informed the 29-year-old Golshifteh that she is no longer welcome in Iran after posing naked for Madame Le Figaro magazine, an act perceived to be anti-Islam. Golshifteh told the Telegraph that the Iranian government has sent a communication telling her not to travel back to her homeland. “I was told by a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guide official that Iran does not need any actors or artists. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else”, Farahani said. “The idea that a woman can demand her freedom of expression through a shock of nudity is not new to the world, but continues to spark the ire of both conservatives and liberals alike. Terming it anti-Islam, blasphemy or issuing fatwas could be far from the solution,” says Bollywood PR guru Dale Bhagwagar, who has also been credited for Veena Malik’s entry into the Indian entertainment industry through Bigg Boss, following a controversy with his then PR client Neetu Chandra. In the recent past, Golshifteh has appeared topless in a short black-and-white film Corps et Âmes, meaning Bodies and Souls. She also starred along with Leonardo Di Caprio in the Hollywood film Body of Lies, as a nurse who helps an injured American secret agent to recover and carry out his mission in a Muslim country. Farahani moved to France after being criticized in 2008 for failing to wear a veil at an Academy Awards ceremony. Recently, she also sparked controversy by posting a bare-chested photo of herself on her Facebook page.