Dubai: Controversial Pakistani actress Veena Malek is in the UAE to ring in 2012 with a New Year's Eve party and have "a much-needed and much-deserved break", she told Gulf News during an interview yesterday.
Malek will celebrate the new year with a party at a Dubai hotel with her friend and Bigg Boss housemate Ashmit Patel. "I'm here in Dubai to collect myself and enjoy my break," she said ahead of the December 31 event, which will see her host guests paying Dh250 per couple at a New Year's Eve dinner and after party at Freddy's Restro-bar at Fortune Plaza Hotel in Al Ghusais.
Malek's apparently nude appearance on the cover of the December issue of FHM magazine's India edition brought her global attention, but also invited condemnation. The outrage was compounded by the initials ‘ISI', a reference to Pakistan's security agency, often blamed by India for terrorist attacks, stencilled on her arm.
As the frenzy over the shoot escalated, Malek denied posing naked for the shoot and claimed the images had been doctored to make her look nude.
She maintains that stance. "Yes, of course, both the images were morphed. My upper portion was covered with tattoos. I think if I could rewind this time, I would like to delete. I feel cheated. But we all make mistakes, I have made a mistake, learned from it and want to move on."
The backlash against the actress has been "traumatic," she said, adding that she is looking forward to moving on in 2012. "It has been tragic and traumatic, really sad. It has been very difficult.
"I hope and pray that next year brings something nice, brighter and better."
