Protestors in India burn Gere effigies
By SAM DOLNICK, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 16, 11:24 AM ET


NEW DELHI - Angry crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of Richard Gere on Monday after he swept a popular Bollywood actress into his arms and kissed her several times during an AIDS-awareness event.

Photographs of the 57-year-old actor embracing Shilpa Shetty and kissing her on the cheek at an HIV/AIDS awareness event in New Delhi were splashed across Monday's front pages in India — a country where sex and public displays of affection are largely taboo.

In Mumbai, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and set fire to glamorous shots of Shetty.

Similar protests broke out in other cities, including Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, and in the northern town of Meerut, where crowds chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty!"

The two appeared at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday to highlight the HIV/AIDS epidemic among India's truck drivers. In front of a cheering crowd, Gere kissed the giggling Shetty on the hand, then kissed her on both cheeks before bending her in a full embrace to kiss her cheek again.

"This is a bit too much," Shetty said after the embrace.

On Monday, Shetty tried to stamp out the controversy.

"I understand this is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such manner," she told the Press Trust of India news agency.

"I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here," PTI quoted her as saying.

The spokesman for Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the kiss.

"Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition," said Prakash Javadekar, according to PTI.

Shetty, already well-known in India, became an international star after her appearance on the British reality show "Celebrity Big Brother" — another controversial public appearance. A fellow contestant, Jade Goody, sparked international headlines by making allegedly racist comments to Shetty. Mobs took to the streets of India to denounce Goody, and Shetty went on to win the competition.

Gere's screen credits include "Chicago," "Pretty Woman" and "An Officer and a Gentleman."

It seems that every few months, some headline starts with that... . I think it's at least as much a "media creation" as it is a description of what's going on.

Man!! What the hell is this country's prob!

AB kisses Rani in BLACK..NP.

AISH kisses HRITHIK, in DOOM 2..NP.

SHIPA kisses Gere..oh HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM here!

Here's a link of Shilpa's response to the media furore...

http://broadband.indiatimes.com/videoshow/1915740.cms

I had admired Shilpa before all this thanks to her handling of the Big Brother controversy, but my respect for her went up ten-fold after watching this clip. Her attack on the media's sensationalism of the story while ignoring the bigger issue of HIV awareness was spot on. The intensity in her voice clearly shows this is something she genuinely cares about. Good on her.

Its easier to protest this kind of stuff than to actually tackle some real problem.

Arsh, a guy from Indore actually filed a lawsuit because of the Ash-Hrithik kiss

After watching the pics, it seems Gere could not contain his 'Sexcitement' level untill night and he smooched Shilpa right there before the crowd

IMHO Gere is looking like one horny old guy here.

They have been showing the video of that scene (BBC) and it's way out of line as per Indian norms. It was not just an innocent kiss on the cheek but multiple ones and forced ones. I don't think anything even close to it ever happened before in any Indian function. Unbelievable.

I think it must have been Rihard Gere's ignorance about Indian norms, not that he intended to annoy anyone.

Agree very much!

they showed it on the ctv news network and damn it was forced the weather lady said right after the kiss that he should know its disrespectful and especially like that
plus its running non stop on aaj tak, headlines today, ndtv, sahara samay, and star news

I took a little break from the "Virginia Tech. Massacre" news, and caught both Shilpa Shetty's address to the media, and a video of the "kiss" in question. Yeah, it looked awkward, but it wasn't "inappropriate" or anything. What's the argument, here: Richard Gere's stupid enough to "force himself" on Shilpa Shetty before likely hundreds of people, at an H.I.V.-awareness program? Come on — . The media may be necessary to spread news, events, and information, but they also profit from propogating stupid bull-shit, which is all that this little fiasco is.

People who think this kiss was offensive clearly haven't seen any Karan Johar films...........

Seriously though, the people who are burning effigies are probably the same ones who head off to seedy cinemas to watch the latest porno.......too many hypocrites around.

for dhoom 2 and KANK, and all bhatt trashola

Eh?

Gosh, I would have completely lost my cool and started ripping out my hair and screaming at all of them.

I am really impressed at how she articulated herself in the face of this ridiculousness. It's preposterous.

Exactly kissing is allowed now in Indian films, as a matter of fact it was even there in the early 70's with Mera Naam Joker. I thought India can handle stuff like this by now or is it just the Shiv-sena making a mess of peoples lives as usual? If they're allowed to grow in power they'll probably have a 'moral' police patrolling the streets of mumbai. They will go around breaking up couples holding hands, but will allow two male friends to hold hands.

Speaking about Gere, I think he was doing that because he's probably seen a few bollywood films and has seen the way they embrace and kiss everywhere except the lips, so he though he'd do the same to a 'bollywood' actress. The fact that the Indian media is still pushing this news, making such a big deal about it shows what a big joke they are, whereas the Shiv-sena has always been a big joke.