Western sickness is seeping into the east. ;(
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FOR years, a fleshy physique was considered a must for an actress aspiring to break into Bollywood.

Now its first size-zero female star has the subcontinent's cinematic purists in a tizz, amid fears an imported Western fondness for slim women might debase the country's culture.

The Indian press has of late been preoccupied by the newly svelte body of Kareena Kapoor, one of the country's biggest -- if now skinniest -- leading ladies.

Kapoor lost several kilos for Tashan, her latest film -- the result, she said, of "power yoga" and a special diet.

Critics unkindly said she resembled a "barely alive cadaver".

The Business Standard, a staid daily, said, in a disapproving review: "Indian fashion and films should look to set new standards in everything ... instead of following a regressive Western concept of beauty."

Until recently it would have been hard to charge any of Bollywood's reigning divas with being scrawny.

Tastes, however, are changing. Last year's biggest Bollywood hit, Om Shanti Om, starred Deepika Padukone, a newcomer, who played a 1970s actress who, with her slight frame, looked nothing like the plump and round stars of 30 years ago.

One reviewer noted: "Padukone has well-developed biceps (and) pectoral and intercostal muscles that suggest long hours doing weight training at the gym."

The Indian love affair with voluptuousness stretches into antiquity.

The Victorians who stumbled upon ancient Indian carvings were often unprepared for the proportions of the depicted women. Captain TS Burt, who discovered the explicit Khajuraho monuments in 1838, delivered the verdict: "A little warmer than necessary."

Some Indians are losing patience with Western morals. Indian billionaire Vijay Malya's move to fly in the Washington Redskins' cheerleaders to urge on his cricket team, the Bangalore Royal Challengers, prompted an outcry last week.

Authorities resisted calls to ban the "first ladies of American football" but insisted that the cheerleaders cover up.

India's gossip pages reported that Kapoor had fainted on set and was anorexic -- charges she has denied. The Times of India claimed last week: "Teenage girls have begun to starve themselves."

For some Indians, the suggestion that Kapoor was aping a Western idol proved the final straw.

Kapoor protested: "People are saying I want to be like Victoria Beckham ... but honestly, I'm proud of my sculpted body.

"I do yoga religiously and I'm eating like any healthy girl, thank you."