No Kissing Please, We're Indian

Kaushik

Richard Gere kissed Indian starlet Shilpa Shetty. Now there's a warrant out for his arrest on "public obscenity" charges. wtf?? Let this be a lesson: Don't kiss Indian females in India, you will be burned in effigy!Indian Court Issues Warrant for GereBy Associated PressApril 26, 2007, 11:35 AM CDTNEW DELHI -- 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," media reports said.Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants in the northwestern city of Jaipur after a local citizen filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.Gupta earlier viewed television footage of the event, which he called "highly sexually erotic," saying the pair violated India's strict public obscenity laws.Gere and Shetty "transgressed all limits of vulgarity and have the tendency to corrupt the society," PTI quoted the judge as saying.Such cases against celebrities -- often filed by publicity seekers -- are common in conservative India. They add to a backlog of legal cases that has nearly crippled the country's judicial system.Gere left India shortly after the kissing incident and it was not immediately clear how the warrant would affect him.Gere is a frequent visitor to India, promoting health issues and the cause of Tibetan exiles. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has his headquarters in the north Indian town of Dharmsala.Under Indian law a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine, or both.Last week, crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of the 57-year-old star of "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo" and "Pretty Woman" after he embraced Shetty and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an HIV/AIDS awareness event in the Indian capital.Photographs of the clinch were then splashed across front pages in India -- where public displays of affection are largely taboo.The judge lambasted Shetty for not resisting Gere's kisses and ordered her to appear in his court May 5, PTI said.Shetty, who is on a religious pilgrimage in southern India, was upset by the news, said her spokesman, Dale Bhagwagar."She does hurt, she does feel low," Bhagwagar told The Associated Press. "She feels she is being constantly targeted, but anyone who knows her well knows she can't be put down.""Shilpa wishes that people would focus on the real issue , AIDS awareness, and not three pecks on her cheek," he said, adding that she had not yet received any court summons.Shetty, 31, has said the embrace was not obscene and that the media should instead focus on HIV/AIDS awareness."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 PTI last week. "I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here."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.

jjfad027

Indian Gigolo

rootlesscosmo

fuck an obscenity charge.

captainplanet

yeah, it's always funny how sex will be portrayed symbolically in bollywood films. You see a couple running through fields of flowers when you know that in real life they're getting sweaty on a mattress. do they do porn over there? or are they just REALLY repressed?

yuichi

That chick is hot. But seriously, what a creep Richard Gere is.

jjfad027

yeah, it's always funny how sex will be portrayed symbolically in bollywood films. You see a couple running through fields of flowers when you know that in real life they're getting sweaty on a mattress. do they do porn over there? or are they just REALLY repressed?

people about to kiss is like softcore porn over there I think

mumbosauce

yeah, it's always funny how sex will be portrayed symbolically in bollywood films. You see a couple running through fields of flowers when you know that in real life they're getting sweaty on a mattress. do they do porn over there? or are they just REALLY repressed?

they do porn everywhere.

bthav

http://www.google.com/trends?q=boobs

captainplanet

http://www.google.com/trends?q=boobs

WTF?!? how'd you even find that? does that actually mean that more people google "boobs" in Irvine, CA than they do in NYC?

It actually kinda supports the whole "too soft (or scared, or repressed) for porn" theory, cause if you google boobs, you won't see much nip.

bthav

yea have fun with that. google labs is pretty underrated.

Birdman9

That chick is hot. But seriously, what a creep Richard Gere is.

You would think someone might have brushed dude up on the local customs (hell, the national customs, from what I hear). Not like Gere is some shut-in who has never traveled!

'When in Rome'....

sticky_dojah

yeah, it's always funny how sex will be portrayed symbolically in bollywood films. You see a couple running through fields of flowers when you know that in real life they're getting sweaty on a mattress. do they do porn over there? or are they just REALLY repressed?

they do porn everywhere.

This is a publicity stunt for aging richie...Don't be fooled. Indians have stepped up their porn game a long time ago.