Indians burn Richard Gere effigy
Hindu nationalists outraged that actor kissed Bollywood actress
Aids awareness event is overshadowed by controversy
Protesters are burning actor Richard Gere in effigy throughout India. The move comes after Gere kissed the cheeks of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty during an event to promote Aids awareness. Gere also grabbed the actress and dipped her in a move reminiscent of his role in Shall We Dance? Shetty had just complimented him on his work.
Conservative protestors consider the act as an outrage against Shetty's modesty and Indian culture, though Shetty herself 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 in the northern Indian cities of New Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi as well as in the central city of Indore.
Some called for the actors’ deaths. Others wanted public apologies.
“I admit it went a little overboard but that was not the intention,” said Shetty. “He did not do anything obscene.”
The clinch happened at an event in New Delhi aimed at encouraging truckers to wear condoms during sex.
TV news bulletins repeatedly showed Gere, 57, kissing the 31-year-old actress. Religious fundamentalists and Hindu nationalists consider any display of public affection taboo. Further aggravating factors are that Gere is not Hindu and the pair are unmarried.
In a televised interview from Mumbai, Shetty defended Gere for his repeated kisses, saying: “Oh my God, so much has been blown out of proportion.”
Britain’s The Daily Mail quoted Shetty’s GMTV interview with presenter Penny Smith: “I think too much has been made out of something that was really quite unimportant.
“He was trying to strike his dance pose from Shall We Dance, his previous movie, and he kind of, you know, just bent over me and he kissed me on the cheeks - I mean, that was it!
“Then they kept playing and replaying it on the channels and people didn’t even know why we were there, and that kind of saddened me and infuriated me.
“People never even talked about the issues.”
She said she held a press conference to explain what happened, and she claimed the “sensible media” now realized the truth.
When asked by Smith if she was worried, Shetty said she was more concerned for Gere because “he’s someone who doesn’t belong to my country,” and she hoped the Indian public would respect the work he has done there for HIV and Aids.
She added: “We must stand up and appreciate that and not digress from the main issue.”
