THE kiss remains one of Bollywood’s biggest taboos, so when one of India’s top actresses was caught in a steamy embrace in a restaurant and the images were splashed across newspapers and television, all hell was bound to break loose.

“Feels like Love!” screamed the Bombay newspaper, Midday, beneath a picture of Kareena Kapoor in an startlingly intimate smooch with her boyfriend and co-star, Shahid Kapur.

The paper claimed that the images had been captured on a video-enabled mobile phone by a diner who saw the couple kissing at Rain, a chic Bombay restaurant.

The five-second video clip quickly made it on to television news bulletins across all channels as curious viewers tuned in to see what they are rarely able to at the cinema.

Despite the odd brief lip-lock, kissing in Bollywood remains a no-no. Wet saris and pelvic thrusts may be one thing, but come close to a kiss and the scene almost invariably jumps to footage of bees pollinating flowers or a vigorously shaking bush.

Even off-screen, public kissing is still widely frowned upon. Ms Kapoor’s reaction was to deny angrily the authenticity of the clip and demand that the newspaper apologise or face a 200 million rupee lawsuit. The paper has refused and is standing by its story.

“I’m not this kind of girl. I’ve an illustrious family name to uphold,” Ms Kapoor said. “This is so sick. It’s not even us. I’m going to do my best to fight for my dignity.”

Ms Kapoor is the youngest member of the legendary Kapoor dynasty, Bollywood’s answer to the Douglases or Fondas. But some observers noted that the family was not what it was, as female members had entered the acting profession only after the death of the family patriarch, Raj Kapoor, who disapproved of his womenfolk flaunting themselves on screen.

Karisma Kapoor, Kareena’s older sister, is famous as one half of Bollywood’s first on-screen kiss and Karena herself has been known to lock lips “when the script requires it”.

Few in Bollywood seemed convinced by Ms Kapoor’s denials but there was shock at what appeared to be an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

The paparazzi are an almost unknown phenomenon in Bollywood where compliant photographers play along with the stars’ whims for fear of being blacklisted and shut out of events.

The advent of camera phones, it seems, has changed all that. Other young stars expressed horror that they could be the next target. “Today it’s her, tomorrow it could be me,” one actress said. “For Christ’s sake, don’t we have the right to enjoy a private meal at a restaurant? And to pay such a heavy price for being celebrity is just not right.”

But at least one of Bollywood’s veterans suggested that the couple had brought it on themselves.

“If you allow yourself to be photographed, that’s no fault of the media,” shrugged Amitabh Bachchan, the Sean Connery of Bollywood.

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