A private television network in India on Sunday broadcast footage of a sting operation showing a popular Bollywood actor demanding sex from a reporter who posed as an aspiring actress.

The India TV programme sparked uproar in India's entertainment industry with film-makers demanding action against the actor, Shakti Kapoor, who was trapped by a New Delhi-based female journalist.

Kapoor was seen apologising on camera when it became apparent to him that he was snared by journalists in a Bombay hotel.

The TV station said the exercise was part of an expose on what it called the sexual exploitation of female debutantes in Bollywood and not a campaign to smear Kapoor, who has starred in scores of commercial films.

"If you are with Shakti Kapoor, no one can touch you ... if you are tired I will give you a massage," the actor said on camera. He was later recorded demanding sex from the reporter.

Kapoor, who campaigned for India's ruling Congress party during last year's national elections, also named Bollywood's three top actresses and said they had offered sex to producers to grab leading roles in movies which became box-office hits.

Subash Ghai, one of the producers named by Kapoor, called for action against the long-haired actor and said Kapoor's conduct dealt a stunning blow to the industry, which produces about 300 films a year.

"It is very shameful for us the way he took names of people who have worked for 50 years in the industry. It does not matter whether he was drunk or trying to impress that girl.

"He has maligned the industry and our association will do its best to initiate the strongest possible action against this actor," said Ghai, one of Bollywood's most respected film-makers.

The television station later interviewed a number of aspiring actresses with at least two of them pointing fingers at known film-makers, saying they too had made similar demands from them.

Kapoor, who made his first film in 1982, said later he had been framed.

"This girl had been pursuing me for the last six months and finally said she would commit suicide if I don't meet her and only after that I decided to meet her in the hotel," Kapoor told a news conference after the broadcast.

"In the room she offered me drinks and I was completely drunk. She also tried to seduce me. I am no saint but I have to say that India TV has maliciously fabricated certain statements which I never said, especially naming some of the top personalities in the industry," the actor added.

Kapoor, who began his career playing roles as a villain, made a name for himself in recent blockbuster films such as "Rajababu" (the King) and "Jorwa" (Twin), in which he played a comedian.