Mumbai, July 10: ‘‘Mallika Sherawat does not need hard-core pornography for publicity. She has enough international projects to her credit,’’ said the superstar’s mentor, director-producer Mahesh Bhatt.

Bhatt—who worked with Sherawat in his hit film Murder—spoke to Newsline on Sunday, days after a video clip shot on a mobile phone, allegedly showing Sherawat and a white man engaged in sexual acts, surfaced and began doing the rounds.

Meanwhile, Sherawat’s lawyer Vaibhav Krishna has submitted a written complaint to Police Commissioner A N Roy and the Social Security Branch of the Cyber Crime Cell, claiming that the six-minute video clip is a violation of Section 67 (publishing obscene information in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

This offence carries a maximum term of five years in prison and a Rs 1 lakh fine for first-time offenders. Meanwhile, Bhatt has also appealed to the film industry to support actors in such cases of exploitation.

‘‘You cannot possibly fight such personal attacks individually. I appeal to the film industry to express outrage and fight this menace together,’’ he said.

Adding that he had spoken to Sherawat on Saturday, Bhatt said: ‘‘This MMS has been planted to pain and damage her and it’s devastating the poor girl.’’

In a similar incident, a city tabloid recently reported that New York-based Indian designer Payal Singhal was outraged when she learnt that her photograph had been posted on a pornographic website without her knowledge or consent. Singhal is also considering legal action.

Outrageous MMS
A male student of Delhi Public School used his cellphone camera to tape his semi-nude girlfriend performing oral sex on him. He allegedly passed the MMS on to friends, who eventually uploaded it on the Internet. Both students were expelled
Actors Kareena Kapoor and boyfriend Shahid Kapoor were allegedly captured on a cellphone camera while in a passionate liplock at a popular Mumbai restobar. Both actors vehemently denied the incident
Just prior to the release of the movie Silsilay, an MMS clip that purportedly showed actors Ashmit Patel and Riya Sen kissing was circulated. Both actors claimed the clip was fake