IfFor once, models and feminists are on the same side. Even before the controversy over fairness creams broke out in Parliament, resentment against the White Brigade had been building on the runway. Here they are, our pouting Indian beauties, toning up, entering Miss India contests and trying to get a personality in an effort to make it big-and seeming nobodies are beating them to it.

Not only did Yana Gupta, a Czech married to a Pune-based artist, walk out of the blue and onto the runway, she also managed a coveted item number in a film. Then there's Roxenne, a holiday-maker "discovered" in Goa; Leah, a Bharatnatyam dancer getting print ads by the dozen; Lada Singh, a Georgian married in India and the toast of Delhi's fashion circles (press releases add "white" model to her name as if it were a doctorate); and Sai Baird, the girl who, besides loads of music videos, has Lee and Roopam campaigns under her belt.

FAIR BARGAIN: (from top) For Lada, Yana, Sita and Roxenne, being white is their ticket to success

Add to this imports like Katrina Kaif and Shivani Kapur (both with British blood), Bollywood entrant Sita Thompson and other walk-in-walk-out white appearances, and you have something of a foreign invasion on the catwalk. Agrees choreographer Aparna Behl: "It is the first time there have been so many foreign faces on the Indian runway." That white models can make inroads into the Indian catwalk without the compliment being returned by western runways-not a single Indian girl has managed a permanent foothold abroad-has not gone unnoticed. "It is the country's fascination with white skin that's getting them the attention," fumes aspiring model Anjhula Singh.

Kaif, all over the idiot box promoting handsets and TVS, says she was surprised how industry professionals fell over each other to woo her. "Initially, I did find the fascination with white skin out of the ordinary," she admits (the 19-year-old, however, refuses to endorse Fair & Lovely cream). Adds Kapur: "The London scene is swarming with models looking for work. It's easier to get a break in India and acquire fame, glamour and money."

Backstage, this spills over into a colour divide. Yatan Ahluwalia, make-up artist, says he has noticed "a slight bias towards the foreign girls" (for instance, they take their time getting to the make-up room while the Indian girls complain they can't get away with it). Ex-model and choreographer Anu Ahuja also feels that some of the foreign girls are "wary of and unfriendly" towards their Indian colleagues.

This fascination for fairness is hitting Indian models where it hurts the most. "They get paid big bucks when they start and they walk in and swipe assignments from under our noses," says tanned sizzler Gauhar Khan, who has been through the paces of collecting crowns for four years before making it to the top bracket. Ex-model and choreographer Marc Robinson calls it a vicious cycle. "Foreigners are chosen over Indian faces for TV ads because of their complexion. Once visible, they get more runway work because the clients want known faces." Which is why Gupta, Kaif and Kapur are top-grossers and may even out-earn senior models.

Bangalore-based Prasad Bidapa, the model manufacturer pivotal in putting the south Indian beauty on the Indian runway map, agrees that the industry seems to be suffering from "colour schizophrenia". On the one hand dusky models like Ujjwala Raut and Carol Gracias have overtaken fair-skinned north Indian girls as runway favourites, on the other there is this wooing of the whites. Bidapa, aghast at print ads with foreign models, says, "We have spent enough time fighting the colour bias. We can do without it."

MODEL UNREST: Greenrooms are rife with "white bashing" by Indian models

Even given that foreign models are fashion's way of making a global statement-"The clientele is now more global than ever," points out Behl-the real insult, models say, is their quality. Standards, say insiders, are not exactly Cindy Crawford-class. Even Behl admits that though the foreign girls "have a different look, they don't have perfect bodies".

Yet, they rule. Part of the reason is USP. When everything from watch companies to pubs are launching themselves with a fashion show, it helps to stand out. Take the La Pashmina show in Delhi. It would have gone unnoticed but for Angela, daughter of the Zambian ambassador to India who was put on the ramp and hogged space in city supplements. Which explains why though Raymond's foreign models were given the thumbs down by critics-"The quality was not up to the mark," says Robinson-Gautam Singhania was unapologetic. "If it gets all of Mumbai excited, why not?"

This is not to say that these women have climbed the storied crystal stair. According to Robinson, getting a foothold in the industry is easier for them, but "after that, you are treated on merit". Apart from the bitching in greenrooms, the foreign girls also put up with media assault. If Gupta's expanding girth was the sniggering point with Indian models at last year's India Fashion Week, Kaif was ripped apart by a city tabloid for her flabby tummy. That hasn't stopped Bollywood from welcoming them with open arms. Thompson, a Gold Gyms model and a second-lead actress in Hollywood, has two films in hand, not to mention stage shows. Producer Ayesha Shroff, who got Kaif to star in Boom and paid her more than the average Bollywood entrant, says she was hired to give the film a global flavour. "It's an era of crossover films and faces," she says.

Many beg to differ. Mahesh Bhatt, who signed Kaif for Saaya only to part ways not-so-amicably, says, "The grab value of the combination of white skin and voluptuousness may exist for some, but the stranglehold is loosening. Bipasha Basu is proving these girls don't match up." The co-stars too are not enthused. Model Sameer Kochchar who starred with Thompson in Valentine Days, a box-office dud, thinks she is a non-starter. "She said she spoke Hindi, but eventually needed a tutor which delayed the schedule." What he doesn't say is that 28, an age pretty much over the hill for Indian women, seems strangely acceptable for a Hollywood actress to debut in India.

But the bottom line is big bucks. "The money is good, better than in the US," says Thompson. Just the sort of parting shot that gets Indian girls fuming.