Bollywood actors these days think twice before venturing into hotels, discos or even to join a friend's birthday bash because amateur paparazzi packing mobile phone-equipped cameras have got them running scared.

A series of intimate exposes of film celebrities have rocked the world's largest movie industry, based in Mumbai, but some celebrities are fighting back.

Bollywood got its first taste of what a mobile phone camera can do when leading tabloid Mid Day earlier this year published lip-locking pictures it claimed were of top actress Kareena Kapoor and actor boyfriend Shahid Kapoor shot by a fan at a Mumbai pub. Both actors denied the pictures were of them, though Mid Day continued to back its story.

A few months later another clip was circulated, supposedly of an upcoming actress in an intimate love-making pose with her actor boyfriend.

Bollywood's reigning sex siren, Mallika Sherawat, is the latest to be caught in a controversy over multimedia messaging service phones, which allow a user to create, send and receive text messages that can also include an image, audio or a video clip.

A graphic new MMS eight-minute clip of a sex act allegedly between Sherawat and a foreigner has been in circulation through mobile phones in India in the past week or so, infuriating the actress who has taken the matter to police.

``Our client is a reputed actress of the Hindi film industry,'' Sherawat's lawyer, Vibhav Krishna, said in a letter to the police.

``She learnt from her friends that an indecent and obscene video clip in electronic form of virtual sex is being circulated in Mumbai and elsewhere.

``The clip depicting pornography with a fictitious computer-generated image of a girl's face similar to our client is illegal, illicit and morally repugnant and obscene.''

The Information Technology Act 2000 bans dissemination of obscene images, with punishment of up to five years imprisonment. Police officers are investigating the origins of the image but say it will not be easy to nab the culprits.

``The grey area is that a police case would have to be against a person or group of persons'' rather than service providers, said a lawyer. ``Tracking down Internet and mobile-phone porn is difficult.''

Stricter guidelines should be in place to force service providers clean up content sent by customers, said the lawyer.

``People are thrilled to catch obscene pictures of celebrities on camera and they love to circulate them,'' said leading Bollywood actress and former Miss World Lara Dutta.

``It is frightening in today's world as you are constantly watching your back. It is completely unwelcome and uncalled for.

``Whenever I have to stay in a hotel during a shoot, I check the room minutely including the bathroom for any bug or a hidden camera. It's a creepy, scary thought that there could be someone out there watching you, filming you and then circulating the film to the public.''

Equally spooked is Priyanka Chopra, the industry's latest leading lady and also a former Miss World. ``I even block the keyhole of my hotel room as this MMS business has psyched everyone around,'' she told The Times of India.

With a ban on camera phones unlikely, actresses are instead increasing their security precautions.

``I live in a very close circuit home and my security is perfect,'' said actress and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, who has installed security gadgets at her Mumbai apartment.

``I feel if anyone tries to fiddle with his MMS phone or any camera gadget he would be the first to get caught rather than me. I will actually bash him.''AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE