Obscenity charge filed against Bollywood stars

A lawyer in India has filed an obscenity charge against actors Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan because of a scene in the movie Dhoom 2.

Shailendra Dwivedi filed the petition this week in the central town of Indore. A local court accepted Dwivedi's request to punish the actors and said it would hear the petitioner on Dec. 11.

Dwivedi said a scene from the movie Dhoom 2 lowered the dignity of Indian women and had an obscene message.

"Bollywood actors are conveying vulgarity in the society," said Dwivedi. "These films cannot be watched with our families, they are so vulgar at times."

Bollywood is the name given to India's fertile movie industry based in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. More than 800 films are produced every year.

The Indian censor board, which certifies all films, released the movie with a "parental discretion" certificate.

The details of the scene were not revealed but intimacy in public is often frowned upon in India.

Dhoom 2, released Nov. 24, is a sequel to the 2004 film Dhoom.

The movie concerns a master thief (Roshan)who encounters a woman, played by Rai, claiming she wants to team up with him and learn his "trade." The police and robbers caper broke opening records in several Indian cities.

Rai, a former Miss World, may be best known to Western audiences as the female lead in Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood-style retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.