Bengaluru: The twitter has gone overboard ranting about a magazine cover that features model Thanuska Subramaniam as a traditional Tamil bride. She is sitting pretty in a red silk sari and a green blouse,revealing her toned legs.

The Toronto-based South Asian wedding magazine Jodi released this cover on the March 13, shot by photographer Vipoositha Gnanenthra of Ovyian Photography and Thadsiga Jayaseleen as the creative director of the magazine – and it is still making news. The custodians of Tamil culture are offended by this cover, that they call tasteless and not their culture. Meenakshi Kumar, a Delhi based reader protested against it on her twitter handle. “She isn’t a Tamil bride. Look at her. I haven’t seen any bride dress like this. This is going too far, taking too many liberties.” Expressing the same views, Swati Ramamurthy says, ” This is a joke. Who really shows of her legs at her wedding? This is outright titillation of senses to sell something. Bold pictures sell a magazine.”

Reacting to the allegations against them, the magazine issued an explanation on its Facebook page. “Be bold. Be the change. That was this year’s theme for Women’s Independence Day. This cover stands for more than beauty and Tamil culture. Not only is it art, it’s an expression of feminism. A princess bride can be bold, regal, whimsical or romantic. In other words, there are no cookie-cutter brides. If baring your legs in a sari is a cultural juxtaposition, then so be it.” In agreement with the above statement, Randeep Singh, a photographer and a media person says, “I don’t know how can this cover create a furore. Just bare legs is not really bold, especially in today’s scenario. And any publication has the right to freedom of expression, and that shouldn’t really bother people. You may like or dislike is another issue,but you can’t troll for this. We have become extremely possessive of our identity and culture and can’t tolerate any opposing view on that.”