It was just about over a year ago that a group of screaming protesters headed by a certain women's group ganged up outside Mumbai movie theatres in an attempt to defame a savvy middle-aged bearded director for having encashed on a rape victim's life, and more specifically, on the wanton display of flesh that liberally peppered the film. ``After this we shall sit on dharna outside Studio (a downtown pub) where a kissing contest will be held in the evening,'' said Alka Pandey president of Akhil Bharatiya Agnishikha Manch then.

Just as Shekhar Kapoor survived the wrath of acerbic critics, many a frisky teenager returned home from the discotheque in the wee hours, with renewed vigour. But controversy has a way with itself. After Bandit Queen, it is a Bollywood star now who has been pushed into the thick of things. Somebody's naked body has landed her in trouble, especially when the Agnishikha Manch stormed her house with rotten eggs. The last issue of Stardust has a picture of Pooja Bhatt in nothing but a bikini bottom. But that's only a simulated image, for it is actually a morph of her face with another woman's near-nude body.

The magazine is supposed to have downloaded the picture from an Internet site, bollywood.com, which has similar simulated images of several other Bollywood favourites. Then again, an NRI from Delhi, Suvrit Varshney, now based in California, who had floated the website bollywood.com confirmed that while the site was established by him and some friends, it was shut down after a few months as they did not have the funds to sustain it. But that was over eight months ago. He wonders how Stardust could have downloaded it so recently. After all, anyone with a knowlegde of Photoshop could do the same.

But Ashwin Varde, editorial director, Stardust, says: ``It is a complete lie on the part of Suvrit Varshney to say that the picture was not downloaded from bollywood.com, for that has been our source. Also, it is not entirely true that the site has not been on air for the last eight months. It must have been on and off, periodically.

``Pooja Bhatt's `picture' has been available for quite a while now, and many people surfing the Net have seen it. We could only have put her picture on the cover, not the entire story, to put forth our argument that the issue at hand was actually the misuse of the Internet. Today her, tomorrow it could be anybody."

But the women's organisation as well as Pooja Bhatt are not impressed. ``So why did she not protest against such crass display of body as soon as the magazine hit the stands?'' asks Pandey. ``She mobilised her campaign against the publishers only after we protested.''

Bhatt has been aware of the presence of such pictures on websites for a while now. She saw a printout of `herself' drawn from a site last year while in Seychelles. But she chose to ignore it. Just as when another leading national daily used her in `the nude' on their pages. She chose to ignore that as well, and the picture went unnoticed. That is till now. ``Much as I was peeved with Stardust for having used my picture, I kept my cool and chose to ignore that as well, thinking that no one would notice it, till the Agnishikha Manch zoomed in,'' says Bhatt.

Although the magazine is known to be sensational, what upset Bhatt is their show of concern in the garb of exposing the activities on websites. ``And even India Today jumped on the bandwagon and used the same picture with their report,'' she says.

``The issue is not nudity or pornography, for the skies have opened that opportunity for the people of this country for quite a while now. If this could happen to me, it could happen to others as well. I believe they also have Pramod Navalkar's mug shot to go with Mr Universe's body,'' she says.

``The battle-cry is against using something without my consent. Going to a police station repeatedly and explaining yourself is no less than an ordeal of a rape victim,'' she says. ``Even after all the hullabaloo, I had to explain to the Joint Commissioner (Crime), Randhir Singh, that the pictures were computer generated.

``I shall take on these women's groups for all they are worth, but I can't take on the Internet, even Bill Clinton cannot do that, but there should be laws governing the activities on websites.''

Says lawyer Mrinal Gore: ``The new policy of globalisation makes it impossible for one to police websites, although it is high time that international laws should be put into effect to curb the nuisance.'' Sudha Karkhanis, of Mahila Dakshata Samiti, agrees. She says while it is a criminal offence to violate anyone's privacy, the media should put their ideas in the right perspective, or one becomes a tool for people to gain political mileage.

``There are many issues plaguing women in this country that need to be addressed. After all, it was Pooja Bhatt who said while posing semi-nude on Movie's cover that if she didn't do it, someone would. Even that, I felt was a non-issue. What annoys me is the way young and accomplished women parade themselves in beauty contests for quick money and fame,'' says Pushpa Bhave of the Maharashtra Stree Abhyas Sangh, a platform for women's studies.

It is important, she thinks, for women to find common ground with one another. ``The issues that plague the urban woman today are land and housing ownership policies, that still sideline them. Women need to be empowered and educated. All other such concerns deserve to be dismissed, for it puts all parties in the limelight,'' says Bhave.

``Unfortunately for us, it is only when we gang up against film stars that we come into the limelight. Why could Pooja Bhatt have not moved the courts on her own?'' says Pandey. But clearly, she has not had the last word on the issue.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.