Richard Gere.
He's always good for a story. Sometimes involving gerbils.
This time, though, it's his repeated kisses of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty that have him making headlines. The smooching took place at an AIDS awareness event in India Monday, sparking outrage from demonstrators burning effigies of the actor.
Wow. While we've considered burning an effigy of Spencer Pratt after a couple of episodes of The Hills, this reaction seems a tad extreme to us.
Footage of the Hollywood star sweeping Shilpa Shetty in a dramatic embrace at the Sunday event in New Delhi was repeatedly aired on news channels Monday.
Many saw the act as an outrage against Shilpa Shetty's modesty and Indian culture, though Shetty herself angrily dismissed the protests as an "over-reaction" that made India look silly.
Groups of men burned and kicked effigies of the actors in protests across India, including the cities of New Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut, Varanasi and Indore.
Some called for the actors' deaths. Others wanted public apologies. One can only guess which group Gere nemesis Sylvester Stallone falls into.
But Shetty, the winner of the "Celebrity Big Brother" reality TV show in Great Britain this year, said the reaction to the kiss made India look "regressive."
"I admit it went a little overboard but that was not the intention," she said to a crowd of journalists and protesters that had besieged her film set in Mumbai on Monday evening.
"He did not do anything obscene," she said of Gere, adding that they had since spoken on the phone. "He apologized to me and told me to tell the media that he apologized."
She said Gere was only re-enacting his moves from the film Shall We Dance, with Jennifer Lopez, in an attempt entertain the audience and communicate in a Bollywood style as he did not speak Hindi.
The event was held Sunday night to encourage truckers - seen as a high-risk group in India's fight against AIDS - to wear condoms during sex.
They whooped with delight and whistled loudly as Richard Gere swooped down on a visibly delighted Shetty to kiss her on her hand and a number of times on one side of her face.
"No condom, no sex," a the 58-year-old Gere shouted in Hindi to thousands of truck drivers who roared his words back in unison at a dusty fairground in New Delhi.
Authorities in India have focused on high-risk groups such as truckers, who have helped spread the virus across the country as many of them have sexual intercourse with Paris Hilton prostitutes during their journeys and later infect their wives back home.
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8 Comments
April 16th, 2007 4:33 PM
Here is the youtube video
http://youtubeplayer.googlepages.com/yt160407.html
April 16th, 2007 10:43 PM
As an Indian citizen in the US for the past few years, I personally don't feel "offended". But what Mr Gere failed to see is that Indian society is still relatively conservative (or, at least, large swathes of it -- and that number translates into millions of people). I guess what ticked people off was the whole "swooping" and bear-hug combo. It is essential that a Buddhist like Mr Gere learn to draw boundaries in social theaters that he may not be familiar with. If this were a private gathering of like-minded socialite, no one would have bothered. But to do what he did in front of thousands of folks is very uncomfortable and upsetting for a lot of people, in a society in which public display of affection is generally frowned upon (I am, of course, not referring to the urban, hip crowd).
April 17th, 2007 2:24 AM
I could not agree any more with the above by Vineet Jain on this new controversy swirling around Ms Shetty.
I feel given the venue and the type of crowd, Richard Gere could have acted in a more cool way, instead of inviting such a spotlight and certainly dipping a star in front of these low-paid and uneducated class of hooligans, which is what I consider.
Then the pathetic turn of events, is that Indians on the streets don't have any other business or jobs but to participate in these protests, displaying sheer madness. Myself having lived in the U.S and being a citizen for over 25 years and having spent some of my teen years as a young girl, I have had painful times, with men oggling and staring and plainly making it uncomfortable for an Indian girl or a woman, in public places all over India.
Ms Shetty is a gorgeous, talented, stunningly beautiful (much more beautiful than the much touted Aishwarya Rai). I am still wondering how an Indian man, has not swooped her already...it is truly barbaric to see Indians with their double standards burning effigies and raising such a hue and a cry for a benign, even with the dipping, hug and a kiss on the cheek. Maybe, the actor was overwhelmed being in front of a foreign crowd and needed to be with the moment. It did not look like he had pre-planned it or thought about what he was going to get into with Shilpa either.
It's like say Ram Ram outside and then beat, rape, abuse their womenfolk inside. That's how much of the society still is. Look at the condition of women, in my travels first hand in India, I saw in many many parts of Indian rural and small towns and villages, where succumbing to the societies norms the parents just want to get their girls married off, even now the girls being married off are not even 10 and 11. By 13 14 and by the time they finish their teens, i talked to so many young women, who have been forced to have sex and had suffered so many miscarriages and abortions and could no longer have children and they seem to live with it.
These same men, who frequent the theaters also are repressed and vile and we all know that more of these madcaps, immolated themselves in India over Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" even without ever reading one. Now, ask yourself if these elements are any different from the ones who burnt themselves.
I am truly sad, that i see India's greatness and then all the rubbish and trash of the current society comes into my mind and I become greatful, that I am not living there any more, how much ever I love it. It is a sad fact, but these xenophobic ideas will prevail for many many centuries to come. It is only going to get worse as time progresses.
I hope Shilpa just moves out to U.K or U.S, where she can continue her career from overseas acting in movies or modelling instead of putting up with such crap, for doing what.....raising awareness to a society which is certainly thankless.
April 17th, 2007 2:38 AM
You know, so many Indian women are commenting humorously about this incident, that they are jealous.
I found even a guy had made a remark, Gees, if Julia Roberts had kissed him, he would have kissed her with more ardour.
What we see all this raucous created by these protests is nothing to do with voicing any legitimate concerns for this incident.
I want to know, how does a population of a country mushroom to a billion plus, when they don't kiss, condone public affection like a hug and then end up having so many offsprings.
I have lived in the west for a long time, and I find that visiting India, in the cities everything is so close and confined. How can people have sex.
It really beats me. I am truly ashamed to see this kind of publicity depicting Indian hooligans to be like Muslim extremists in any other Muslim country. There is a recent controversy surrounding Pakistan's foreign minister ( a woman) who is under a great threat for going skydiving with a man (in this case a hug as well) in France.
Go figure, in this modern day and age, we are still pulled down to the depths of dark ages by these madcaps and mindless barbarians
April 18th, 2007 11:51 PM
While the reaction was over the top, when I saw the video of Gere forcing himself on Shilpa, I was disgusted. She clearly didn't want this guy kissing her or bending her over backwards, she was wriggling to turn away. Who the heck is Gere to forcibly kiss a woman? He looked like an old goat.
It reminded me of Adrian Brody kissing Halle Berry a few years ago at the Oscars. Totally out of line. Both men deserved to be slapped.
July 26th, 2007 12:18 AM
EK DUM BAKVASH BUDHO KISS KARI GYO
February 2nd, 2008 5:54 AM
Hi,
Guys who cares..shilps must have sexed up thousands of men(dont forget south movies :-) ) which means if richard does this little act it should be fine after all who in india does not fantasize over bollywood females and shilpa is one of them.chill guys
July 8th, 2009 1:38 PM
Why has it crossed out Paris Hilton and written prostitutes next to it?
If that's supposed to be a joke it's way out of order and completely not funny.