First bikini, then bindi

In the Hindi film industry, asset gains mean something else. Aspiring actresses without the advantages of pedigree know the benefits of

half-naked aerobics. "Actresses showing skin are like neon signs that you can't ignore," says producer Sunil Doshi. It is a short cut to fame.

So, a Nisha Kothari readily squeezed herself into a pushup contraption that was two sizes too small to enhance her bust in Killer. Mallika Sherawat romped around in a bikini in Bachke Rehna Re Baba .

Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Antara Mali and Neha Dhupia also displayed their ample female form in the first couple of movies.

Oddly though, as soon as these actresses establish themselves in front-benchers' minds as benevolent providers, they start shopping for clothes. Or bring their mother on the sets to intimidate filmmakers.

They want nothing to do with their naked past. Priyanka Chopra reportedly told designer Rocky S to cover her reasonably for Krrish, which is said to have alarmed its director Raakesh Roshan, who signed the former Miss World only because of her sensuous image.

But he might have forgotten that Priyanka Chopra was already two years into movies by then, and who now sagely wants us to believe, "There's more to me than my body." She apparently walked out of Anees Bazmee's Benaam because she was given a sparse wardrobe.

In a world that is already cruel to men, Mallika Sherawat too has decided to cover up. Even Neha Dhupia who once said, "Sex and Shah Rukh Khan are the only things that sell," is looking for a new sound byte to offer.

She is doing the lead in art filmmaker Rajat Kapoor's Mithiya , where she'll have to concentrate on acting alone. On actresses' psyche, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt observes the problem is that once these they attain a modicum of success, they feel "that the sexual route is an albatross they have to free themselves off.

Their desire to find acceptance by the high priests of society, who feel what titillates is not art, makes them disown the very road they first tread on." They then venture into art cinema and scramble for Rituparno Ghosh's address. "They feel this is what will buy them respectability."