http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070416/ap_en_...e_kiss_protests

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.
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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."

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Don't care much for Richard Gere but I was suprised by how India reacted to his PDA.

Well yeah, the guy's old.

Bothered about immodesty ? Such BS! Indian Bollywood movies are full of those "actresses" jumping around in skimpy clothes.

lol I agree, I don't see why it is a big deal, but again who would want an old guy giving you alot of kisses

Why is everyone making a big deal about this? Far right-wing fanatics burn effigies of Bollywood actresses all the time for showing skin. Nobody cares.



These are right-wing nationalists who are whining, not normal people.



These are the same people who burn effigies of Mallika Sherawat if you're trying to say they're being hypocritical.

Richard Gere hasn't been cool since Kojak was on the air.....

meh the whole thing got blown out of proportion. I think it's simply a case that Richard Gere wasn't aware of the cultural differences of America and India in such cases of PDA and so didn't realise how him doing that would bother people.

they have kissing scenes in bollywood movies now...in fact, there was a movie, kabhi alvida naa kehna, where two married characters had an affair that went on for a while, and then got divorced. and one couple had a kid...of course this movie HAD to take place in america, so everyone in india would know how america corrupts indians...but that's besides the point. and there was kissing and undressing in that movie.

with all the blatant sexual displays in bollywood movies, i.e. wet sarees, skimpy outfits, etc, it's crazy that they still oppose kissising in public, especially since u see it all the time in bollywood movies these days..

i love the "burning effigies" it never fails

A lot of backlash may be the fact that its a white man kissing an Indian woman.

Nobody complained when Brande Roderick kissed Amrish Puri....lol

its a whole lot of people with nothing better to do with their time

Just saw this on the news today. Crazy stuff. Just as bad as the Muslims, actually I find this worse. I also heard about how they tried to burn down the Cricket players house because he didnt do well in the game. Friggin fanatics.

thats what ive been thinkin of.

those indians always making rocus. just kidding :P i wonder how long it'll be before don imus describes shilpa as a nappy headed . just kidding.

i read about this in the paper the other day. lol...it is a bit much >.<

haha take that mr.gere

You people need to chill. He's just being over-friendly. It's not like he had sex with Shilpa Shetty on stage. It's just kissing.

What will you do if some White dude marry an Indian movie star? Riot?

^"You people need to chill"? Nobody here is making a big deal about it.

The people are from some far right-wing political party. They protest about stuff like this all the time. Western media is just giving them more and more attention, which is what they want.

I would have done her on stage!!!

Okay, one or two kisses is okay, but what he did was a little overboard considering most parts of India are quite conservative (not the urban areas though)

umm...most of us here have said those who had problems with it have overreacted, so precisely who is "you people"?

Or could it be you're just generalising about all Indians because of the actions of a very small minority?

You're talking to the wrong crowd. You should go to an Indian nationalist forum and tell them to chill.

It wasn't even on the lips, but just a few big kisses on the cheek. Indian nationalists are more conservative than I thought.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...19-4-2007_pg3_4

THis is serious, the religious fundamentalists have been analyzed to be almost as bad as the Taliban and are anti-feminist.

ah the good dumb numb media, 200 million peoples in poverty, 200 millions just recovered from poverty which pseudo british policies of white supremacy and false aryan invasion theory has deeprooted effects on these peoples.

If you guys have read WH Aurdens (irish poet) the poem on the divide and rule policy you'll understand.

Why is it 15 peoples protesting in 3 places 15*3 = 45 translates to they being representatives of India?

Have you guys ever thought why sex/kiss/women works these self-claimed groups worked up specially when a white person is involved in it when there are brothels in every corner of country?

It is the psyche of some retarted peoples and the hype of the media creates, When ISRO is demostrating SCRAMJET propulsion it is not a national news but when someone is kissing someone it is national news.

Our media is taking the iliterates for a ride!


Gere was a bit overboard, but there is nothing that these peoples need to protest sometimes burn cricket players effigies.

They dont represent a nation with their pseudo-natioanlism on making baseless issues , issues ; and self porclaimed nirvanic peoples turning blind eye on anything other than "women".

Yes, the taboo still exists, give us time guys 800 years of foreign rule has ruined the culture once it was in times of golden age of Indian history.

These groups are applying tactics , by learning them from across the border , but alas they have tried before and it doesnt works i a democratic society.


Ps : i have tried to demotrate all the maximum possibilities in this post.

If they really want to piss Gere off they should contract HIV. As if it wasn't condenscending enough some foreign guy comes raise awareness about AIDS, in the minds of some people he basically ripped off her panties and started humping her with his arms raised in the air.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/...reut/index.html

What an ungrateful country. He would go there all the time to raise money and awareness for AIDS in that country. Now he can never go there again.

piss off $hitlips, if you go to another country you should know it's laws and what is socially acceptable.

piss off $hitlips, if you go to another country you should know it's laws and what is socially acceptable. The only people who need AIDS awareness are truck drivers and prostitutes anyway, lol.

He's not going to get arrested or go to jail and neither is Shilpa...

a friend of mine is a global strategist and i've seen some of the memo's she receives when going into asian/middle eastern or other traditionally conservative countries. they're all about the do's and dont's she has to keep in mind (from the length of her skirt-if she can even wear one- to the fact that she shouldn't say much and let her male partners lead the conversations)

it doesnt take a genious to figure out that in certain countries one has to abide by the local cultural 'rules' 'norms' -

on the flip side...like i said before...people are just so darn preoccupied with nonsense sometimes, that they dont focus on the real issues at hand...again....people with too much time on their hands that are protesting, and filing complaints.

^My mom said it was okay to wear skirts in my mom's small and conservative hometown (not too short, mind you). I guess I was lucky, because nobody said anything. They knew I was from America and understood. And I had male family members by my side 24/7 anyway.

In the bigger cities of course, it's not a big deal.

good post, I do agree that some ppl are blowing it outta proportion, but Gere shoulda known better. Doing something like that at a public event is going to turn some eyes, especially if your a more "public" figure.

Big deal.

Cheap girls with no talent looking for cheap publicity.

I believe a Indian judge recently has ordered the arrest for them for public indecency.
In my opinion I think its ridiculous.

This kind of fanaticism in India will simply hurt India's public image in the world stage. Foreign investors wont want to invest in India.

This is monumently stupid, but anything to keep richard gere from homeland.

I don't see what this story has to do with foreign investors. People looking to make money will do so anywhere, regardless of the strictness of culture (Iran being an example).

Or When the CCP wouldn't let Jay- Z perform in China.

i thought richard gere was married?

It has to do with stability of region.


Whose doing business in Iran?

Plenty of international companies are doing business in Iran today. Most simply alter their products to fit the cultural norms within the country of their operation.

Which nations are most of these companies from???? I know Russia & China has some investment in Iran.

(I'm not talking about altering products or fitting cultural norms. Thats a different subject. I was refering to stock market trade investments by investors.) Its like oil investors recently got pretty nervous over the latest U.S./Iran spat. Or when investors got nervous with China a few week ago. Or when investors started to pull their investments out of the U.S. when 9/11 occur etc.


Mind you I dont have an issue of companies trying to fit cultural norms or anything like that.

oil service companies and IT service companies.

Subsidiaries of American and European companies based in small island nations.

oops! repeat post

Interesting.

well, the gestures are just simple greeting ... need to get the idea across to the people ...

It's normal for a foreigner to honor the values and norms of his host country. I think that old fart should apologize

At first I thought the people of India's reaction was kinda extreme, but if you think about it, it's east meets west, in the east....
and so as hypocritic as it may sound, eastern culture still has it's boundries (you can do whatever you want behind close doors, but in public...behave!)
I think Mr. Gere should have been more considerate about his actions.

Get a room Mr. Gere, I'm sure you can afford the best that money can buy

Have you actually seen the video? Watch the whole thing (not just the clip in the beginning):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=We_EUNRQKYw