It’s almost the weekend, so indulge me a bit of crankiness leftover from the work week. I had been avoiding mentioning the arrest warrant against Richard Gere until I realized it rankled. For those of you who have managed to avoid it: 
A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. [Link]
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p designtimesp=”247″>So what, right? So some busybody in Jaipur gets his or her nose bent out of shape and files a complaint “charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities” [Link] and finds some judge who agrees, saying that the incident was “highly sexually erotic” and violated India’s public obscenity laws. We blogged earlier about how Ajmer had prepared a booklet instructing tourists of the opposite sex not to hold hands or touch. It’s just more of the same.
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p designtimesp=”251″>Part of my annoyance stems from the fact that this frivolous suit will further clog a court system that can’t handle urgent matters in a timely fashion.
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p designtimesp=”252″>But mainly I’m annoyed at Shetty’s lame ass response to the incident. Instead of telling people that it was just a peck on the cheek, she replied:
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… [Link]
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p designtimesp=”259″>Was I the only one who expected her to follow that sentence with a list of activities on stage that would have been far more obscene?
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p designtimesp=”260″>Honey, just a little bit obscene is like being a little bit pregnant. Show some backbone! An embrace and a smooch on the cheek is tame compared to stuff in Bollywood lately. Why pander by arguing that it was kind of obscene but not … you know … not such a big deal.
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p designtimesp=”261″>Shetty compounded the lameness of that response by also saying:
I understand people’s sentiments, but I don’t want a foreigner to take bad memories from here. [Link]
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p>So, OK, it was obscene and people are angry, but please, let him go because we don’t want to ruffle a foreigner’s feathers? Gere’s a frequent visitor to India, he comes to Dharamsala all the time. This is far from his first impression of India.
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p designtimesp=”268″>Maybe it’s because I’m an ABD, but I just don’t get it. Why not say, I’m sorry you all are offended, I’ll ask him not to do it again, but really it was just a kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t on my lips, and there was no tongue involved. None. Now if you’re done with the lawsuits, I have to get prepared for my sexy Bollywood movie …
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p designtimesp=”269″>No, nobody in India ever kisses anybody on the cheeks. Shame Shame! [pic via Rhinocracy]
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UPDATE: The Daily Show does it far better than I have [Thanks Sirc]
Related posts: ShameShame! Paint a Vulgar Picture, Shilpa.
This whole story is so pathetic. I think people in India are just “sue” happy – I mean, there were multiple, random people suing Aishwarya/Hrithik for a kiss in a movie. The worst part of this story, IMO, is that everyone here is talking about it – from people at work to Z100 to every other gossip blog. We just got over the Sanjaya thing, and now this? Not a good time for brown people =)
dude, it’s a different culture….
btw, this reminds me of that cleric in pakistan who wanted to put madonna on trial for offending the sensibility of muslims. not nearly as bad, but if i talk about a muslim culture in the same breath with indian culture, well, i think you know what this atheist thinks about it all….
Ding ding ding. Tell him what he’s won Bob.
We’ll see how much “backbone” you have if you have to face effigy burners. Shilpa played it the only way it could be played: when faced with maniacs, pander. Until you’re at a safe distance. Then you can lob rhetorical grenades.
Can you all think of funnier lines for her to have said at least?
I want to know where the effigy burners are when the Bollywood starlets are doing manic pelvic thrusts and dancing in ways that would put a stripper to shame?
I’m guessing they are at the back of theater getting themselves off…
Sorry hit Post before I was done with my rant…
Anyhow, the lot of them are hypocrites because if they think a kiss on the cheek is obscene then they need to apply that same standard to 99% of the obscene crap that comes out of Bollywood each year.
i think you’re being too harsh on shetty. her comments have to be seen in the light of the society in which she’s saying it. what richard gere did is not worthy of a frivolous lawsuit or any ridiculous outrage, but it’s not common practice either, no matter what they show in bollywood movies. and he didn’t just give her a peck on the cheek. even when you watch bollywood awards shows, i don’t recall seeing any celebrities greeting each other (of the opposite sex) with a kiss unless it’s part of the entertainment act or something. they might shake hands or do a namaskar or hug. she’s right when she says kissing on the cheek between men and women is part of his culture but not part of indian “decorum” at public functions with dignitaries, celebrities etc. that said, some people have too much time on their hands and this was no insult to anyone (now some of these music videos….), especially given the nature of the function at which it occurred and the audience.
“LML baba LML”
I don’t think her response was “lame-ass” at all. It was a very diplomatic way to flip the bird to middle-class Indian sexual hypocrisy. I understand she’s a good deal of Aids Awareness work since “Phir Milenge” in the subcontinent.
I think you’re reading this sentence wrong, Ennis.
“So”, in this case isn’t a synonym for “very” (common “Indian English”, she’s not admitting it was obscene at all, her intent is clear in the first fragment.
Translation: Y’all are idiots. But I agree she is trying to be diplomatic, having to walk the tightwire between frankness and cartoonish Indian mores.
“”then they need to apply that same standard to 99% of the obscene crap that comes out of Bollywood each year.”
some of them do. i think shilpa shetty and one other actress were sued for some magazine photos deemed “offensive”. there’s always someone filing a silly lawsuit over these things. but what passes in the movies is very different to what passes in public functions or social interactions in real life.
I think Gere should have gone for the lips or even better shown “How to have safe sex with Shipa Shetty” on stage.
I’m guessing they are at the back of theater getting themselves off…
LOL, that wuz wut i was thinking before i read that line!
This whole Gere/Shetty furore is utterly idiotic, and I do not mean to condone it or the self-appointed stewards of ‘Indian culture’ in any way. This court case thing is really the limit — as you point out, especially in a country where the whole legal system is notoriously bogged down with IMPORTANT cases.
However, one would have expected a relatively culturally savvy, well-travelled and educated person like Richard Gere to show a leettle more sensitivity and intelligence in guaging how his behaviour, at the least, might possibly embarass either Shilpa or the others around.
I haven’t seen such a display of grabbing a woman/man, bending them over and ‘kissing’ even during awards shows in the US. Context is everything, Mr Gere!
I agree with sirc here, Ennis needs to learn Indian English 😀
PS…what a great choice of accompanying pic!
Did you not see the oscars where Adrien Brody won and Halle Berry was a presenter and he did the same exact thing Gere did? So yes, it has happened here in the US.
You stole my thunder! I was just about to mention that.
Honestly, what really bothers me about this whole thing is that the warrant for Shetty alleged that she failed to fend off Gere’s advances. That’s really pathetic, and what’s more, it’s a neon sign that India is still a place where everything that happens to a woman is really all her own fault.
That’s really pathetic, and what’s more, it’s a neon sign that India is still a place where everything that happens to a woman is really all her own fault.
totally. she’s not a virgin, so of course it doesn’t matter anyhow, right?
Or Julia Roberts going all Montessori on Denzel? Or Britney getting a tonsilectomy from Madonna? In the annals of onstage badmaashi, this Gere thing ain’t nothing. Misjudged, but amateurish at best.
But someone give Shilpa’s publicity agent a Padma Shri pronto. A genius year thus far.
THIS IS SPART-TA. Here children swim in volcanoes, swagger about the promenade with their balls full of testosterone. Show some backbone like Spartan women. Stand straight while taking it in. Did the girl’s shoulders touch her coccyx when she bent over backwards? Parade Saaavdhaaaan!!!
SPART-TANS, PREPARE FOR GLORY!
Okay, only after watching this clip on the Daily Show do I see that there is prolonged ass-grabbing.
Death to Gere. F him..he hasn’t made a good movie since “Breathless” anyway.
Bengali Chick and Bad I Girl: well, I guess I haven’t watched enough Oscar shows etc 🙂
But still. It was just a remarkably stupid thing to do, even if this calling for his blood smacks of rank hypocrisy and an equal stupidity.
Some people seriously need to get laid…
okay, perhaps a stupid questions: are you not allowed to smooch your honey in india? is this a law.. no public dispay of affection? does this apply for single people, women, married couples? what’s the deal?
are you not allowed to smooch your honey in india?
I don’t know about “allowed”, but I’ve never seen it done off-screen. I also recall my grandmother-in-law being mighty offended at all the kissing in Monsoon Wedding.
Besides that’s the whole point of obscenity laws, right? “I don’t know what ‘obscene’ means, but I know obscenity when I see it.” Obscene means different things to different people.
Agreed. It is this kind of ‘you invited it’ mentality that disgusts me. Why are they burning effigies of Shilpa Shetty? Aside from this being a highly extreme response to a (relatively) unremarkable event, it further propagates this degrading attitude towards women. The hypocrisy pisses me off too, since the janta doesn’t seem to have much trouble with half-naked women on screen (evidenced by ticket sales). People in India tell me everyday that the country is ‘all grown up and probably more ‘out there’ than North America in certain aspects’ but things like this make me wonder.
BC:
Here are some previous posts on the topic: 1, 2 … I know we had more somewhere …
Bengali Chick – check out this article regarding kissing scandals in India in the past few years, including this most recone one. Apparently it is against the law in India to kiss in public. Interesting article and writing by a brown person no less!!! 😀
In India, even if you are married, you are not supposed to hug, kiss, or even glance lovingly at each other. This is the universal ‘social’ law – whether you are muslim or christian or anyone else. Any public display of affection might be offensive because that means that you are still getting laid. And everyone knows that sex is dirty. 🙂
I think people in India are just “murder” happy – I mean, there were multiple, random people murdering other people.
Well then.. I’m just a dirty ho. Thanks for the info folks!
gere apologizes. go homeland brownz, go!
Poor Richard Gere.
It is not like he did this!. [link to Klimt painting, maybe NSFW]
india’s “rising”…and they’re really offended to be put in that position!
Same can be said about America after VT Shootings.
Stop India bashing NOW!, unless you want your own effigy burnt 🙂
I know many ultra religious guys who talk alot about morals. they tend to be the ones that do the most horrible things when others arent looking.
Right. And Gere may have been imitating that, also thinking that he was actually flattering the colored girl by kissing her.
Nothing wrong with putting westerners on the defensive. They have been treated like gods by desis for far too long.
On the other hand the stupidity and hypocrisy of indians is boundless. I’d say that it is a far greater moral offense that India not just tolerates but even provides religious sanction to child prostitution and child marriage. There are tens of thousands of child prostitutes in the red-light districts of Mumbai alone. Why arent these silly hypocrites protesting that?
It was a reference to his film, “Shall We Dance”. Hence the dip.
they tend to be the ones that do the most horrible things when others arent looking.
when my dad was in grad school a local fundie muslim tried to convince him to buy playboy for him. his rationale was that if he didn’t buy it it wasn’t haram.
BadIndian girl’s article had the following quote —
I wonder when kissing in public became taboo. Is this Victorian Morality or did it start during the medieval ages?
I know this is off topic, but the Japanese original is a great movie, put it on your queue today!
Why arent these silly hypocrites protesting that?
yep.
two off the cuff reactions
1) isn’t this of trivialization genuine injustice and oppression and want?
2) this is so f**king funny.
thats sort of like those islamic bonds. Its not interest because weve structured the “interest” payments as period equity payments. allah hu akhbar, wheres my bond coupon?!
You know Avi, I’ve always wondered about that as well. I mean we went from the Kama Sutra to banning kissing in films. My cousin has a highly unscientific theory that conservatism was brought to India by the Mughal invaders. Not sure what I think about that but if you make a 12 degrees of Kevin Bacon flow chart you can maybe make the connection from Islam in the Middle East and the Burka/hijab to the covering of women’s heads with their saris (especially in Northern India). When my mom first got married, her MIL insisted she always cover her hair with her sari in public and when the men were home.
I think it was the Victorians. Those idiots! I’m sure the Mughals weren’t totally against a little PDA – didn’t Shahjehan have 300+ illegal wives who all lived together haveli-style?
Then again, the Victorians also introduced to the world the wonders of the gentleman’s club.
My cousin has a highly unscientific theory that conservatism was brought to India by the Mughal invaders.
conservatism is too broad, but perhaps the covering up of particular parts? e.g., i know that in kerala in the early 20th century muslim peasant women were walking around topless until the mullahs told them to stop. they did, and their hindu overlords got pissed and told them to keeping dressing as they had. so some muslim men killed a few landlords and their women didn’t have to go topless again.
Not sure what I think about that but if you make a 12 degrees of Kevin Bacon flow chart you can maybe make the connection from Islam in the Middle East and the Burka/hijab to the covering of women’s heads with their saris (especially in Northern India).
as a point of fact, there is some evidence that the practice of veiling and purdah which is common amongst muslims was picked up from elite byzantine (veiling) and sassanid/persian practice (purdah), since these were the lands they conquered. note that athenian citizen women of any status were secluded and segregated out of the view of men. a lot of these ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ tendencies lay latent within most cultures and they wax & wane (e.g., before the victorian period there was the relative license of the late 18th century).
Can we then claim that the hindu right wing is a curruoting foreign influence on our culture, and go back to making out in the streets like good hindu bunnyrabbits?