Hindu nationalists are burning Richard Gere in effigy -- no, not because of "Shall We Dance," but because of his over-affectionate behavior toward a popular Bollywood actress.
Photographs hit front pages of newspapers in India today, showing Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty on the cheek at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi -- where public displays of affection are taboo. In protest, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group, Shiv Sena, beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and burned pictures of Shetty.
In the video, Gere can be seen kissing Shetty several times on the hand before hugging and kissing her on the cheek -- cheered on by fans the entire time. When Gere took to the mic, he led to the crowd in a "No condom, no sex" chant in Hindi.
Shetty came to the defense of Gere today, saying, "I understand that it might have looked like he went slightly overboard, but that was really not the intention. His intention was that of entertaining the people. "
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He was rude and disrespectful. If you'll note when he's hugging her (about 17 seconds in) his hand is on her back but moves down to her behind. Extremely unbelievably disrespectful. He deserves all the ire he is receiving. I'm an American who's lived in Europe for 12 years and I constantly see other Americans displaying brutish behavior and expecting everyone outside the US to think and behave as we do. No...you simply can not go into another country and disrepect its culture and beliefs as he did. He is 100% in the wrong.
Lighten up, y'all. There is lot more seen and said in the movies and in the indian media. There is hardly any objection to so called movie personalities kissing on the screen. Is that also a part of the indian culture? Millions (including many indians) pay money to see many "immoral' scenes on the satellite TV and the internet. And yet there are those who pretend that they are offended. Perhaps they love to ignore reality and live in illusion. Both the people in this scenario apparently had honest intentions. If indians want to fix the morality of the world culture then they have a lifetime to do so.
