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p>Okay, I lowe my Yindia and all, but these are the sorts of “news” stories which make me want to smack a few hundred million people upside the head. Come ON, Eileen. Yes, it was the wrong thing to do. Yes, it was crass. Yes, Indian culture demands modesty and decorum blah blah blah. But listen, shining India— if you want the world to take you seriously, try learning methods of protesting shit which do NOT involve screaming death threats and effigy burning, aight?
Pretty please? No? Sigh. I tried. Via the BBC (Thanks, JPT):
Actor Richard Gere has sparked protests in India after kissing Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty at an Aids awareness rally in New Delhi. Demonstrators in Mumbai (Bombay) set light to effigies of the Hollywood star, while protesters in other cities shouted “death to Shilpa Shetty”.
The protesters said Gere insulted Indian culture by kissing the hand and face of the Bollywood actress.
Indian culture was later overheard stating, “Gimme a frickin’ break. There are hundreds of other things I find far more insulting– Anand Jon, for example.” ShameShameShilpa responded thusly:
Shetty downplayed the incident, saying “it was not so obscene”.
“This was not such a big thing for people to over-react in such a manner,” the actress 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. I understand this is his culture, not ours,” she added.
I don’t know Shilpaji…I think the “his culture, not ours” strategery is the wrong approach; everyone already knows that his culture is all cheee! . Why not enlist the Dalai Lama’s help or something? Isn’t that the whole reason Gere is down vith the brown?
Anyroad, if India had remained in the world cup, would the media give two tattis about this? A Cricket dilettante would love to know:
The kissing scenes were regularly played on Indian TV, with some viewers commenting on Gere’s actions, while Indian newspapers carried the picture on their front pages.
Now you know why the song in my head is…in my head (and in our title!):
Protesters said his embrace of one of the country’s leading ladies had been “vulgar” and demanded an apology from the film star.
Ha! Typical blame the victim/blame the woman mentality. What next, because of that flimsy outfit and all that lipgloss, she was asking for it? Oy, my head hurts.
I’m really surprised at SM’s take on this. It’s not appropriate for Gere to grab at Shilpa or any woman for that matter. The message is that he, as a man, can simply get away with invading a woman’s space, and can do at a public function. Really not the message that he should be sending at an AIDS awareness function. Why on earth should he assume that he has the right to grab her? Would he do this to Ashley Judd at an AIDS awareness thing here? Who knows, maybe he would, idiot that he is.
sk, I could not agree more. I’m really surprised by the reactions of Indians here. Maybe I’m assuming wrong but most Indian posters here live abroad? I’m sure (or at least hope) that most know what sexual harassment is (which should actually be the same in all countries, including India) and what the norms are in the US or the UK, regarding behavior like his. I think that in any civilized place, a man coming on to a woman this way (a stranger to him or someone he isn’t intimate with in real life), mauling her like that and holding her in a “death grip” is very frowned upon and even punishable by law. I saw the video and it actually looked a lot worse than the pics.
So, what makes this so innocuous? The fact that he’s Mr. Gere “movie star”?
And for whoever said that this was just him pretending to be in a movie, maybe that’s the problem. People like him don’t know anymore where filming ends and real life begins, not to mention the feeling of entitlement such people have – it couldn’t possibly be that a woman wouldn’t dream of being touched and kissed by such a “god”.
AND, nobody mentioned that the man is also MARRIED.
mauling her like that and holding her in a “death grip” is very frowned upon and even punishable by law.
This just in – an Indian court has ordered Gere’s arrest…
A serious review and revamp of “obscenity laws” in India is in needed…
M. Nam
I’m really surprised at the number of people whose reading skills are subpar. The post stated that Gere’s actions were wrong and then moved on because they weren’t the point of the post. The effigy-burning-over-reaction was. But hey, people love to complain/shoot their mouths off thoughtlessly/bleat etc.
This is unbelievable > http://www.ktvu.com/entertainment/13181267/detail.html
The courts in India have nothing better to do.. just a few thousand other cases that actually need to be resolved!
what is wrong with my peeps? they didn’t put out an arrest warrent for the Big Brother biggots who berated Shilpa for her ethnicity – but kiss the girl, and they’ll burn your effigy?!
So denying sex exists didnt really help this overpopulated starving cowbelters mess. Did you think those masses came out of kissing cheeks?!?
Alas, look at europe, sex is a subject to freedom, and whoa, no overpopulation here and less poverty.
Geez wake up people! Thumbs up for filmmakers like MIRA NAIR to drag that out in the open!
Deanna,
How wonderful that you can personally attest to 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of India being an”overpopulated starving cowbelters mess”
If you have a point – then make it without resorting to gross exaggeration
It’s called humour!! He didn’t rape her – he was just a celebrity putting on a show & pretending to overwhelm her with his charms…Shilpa Shetty is quite fortunate to get such a hug from Richard Gere – he’s a lovely man. I was shocked to see what a fuss was made about this incident in India at first…..I love India but it’s not healthy for any country to take its ‘moral customs’ to an extreme.