Richard Gere's Kiss to Shilpa Shetty issue blown out of proportions?

[Kiran.dks]

Kiss issue blown due to gossip-hungry television media



Reacting to the apology rendered by actor Richard Gere to the media following the outcry over pecks he planted on Shilpa Shetty's cheeks, the actress's spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar commented, "It is sad that Gere had to apologize for no fault of his".

"All he had done was enacted a scene from his film 'Shall We Dance' to entertain the truckers at the AIDS awareness event. It was a natural cute and loving impromptu gesture by Gere which was blown out of proportion due to improper projection by the gossip-hungry television media," Bhagwagar said.

He maintained that it was an irrelevant controversy and said that Shilpa was neither hurt nor humiliated by Gere's gesture. "It is really surprising that three pecks on Shilpa Shetty's cheeks can cause such an uproar especially in the land of Kamasutra ," he added.

SOURCE


What do you guys feel? Is the issue really blown out of proportions or whether the critics are justified saying "It's against Indian Culture"?

[kumarmohit]

I feel that if someone feels that this is against Indian culture, they have every right to put forward their opinion and go to courts if they feel hurt. They are citizens of India and they also have the right to speak their mind and seek a judicial remedy when they think their feeling have been hurt, just like Shilpa and Gere have every right to kiss in public.

As for "land of Kamasutra" we were at the same time the land of Vedas. But we have moved on. If our present law does not allow such a thing why bring things from past and try to justify it.

Basically its just a money making trick by media. Richard Gere kissed Shilpa, he did not rape her. She did not have any objections to it.What is so news worthy? If the media does not consider this as anything out of normal why report it at all? Its the business of media to report what it consideres unusual or incorrect, not what it consideres correct.

[Kiran.dks]

I certainly didn't like the act. It was not just a Kiss. It was a sequence of obscene act. Richard first kissed Shilpa's hand, then hugged her, kissed her cheek, and then a big-tight Kiss! Huh! Not in India atleast.

I wonder what is next?. Cant he kiss celina jaitley instead of shlipa?.

[karnivore]

Richard first kissed Shilpa's hand, then hugged her, kissed her cheek, and then a big-tight Kiss! Huh! Not in India atleast.

So Indians don't do all of those ?

Originally Posted by karnivore

So Indians don't do all of those ?

Same question.

Who started this controversy?.

[karnivore]

Same question.

Who started this controversy?.

Did not get u. Come again.

[Gigacore]

ya he attempted to try some kamasutra postures!!!

[virus_killer]

if shilpa has no objection thn why should we have , and as "karnivore" said don't we do all those ? if anything happens like this than our people make it a big issue of culture. i don't know when our people's mentality will change.

[karnivore]

i don't know when our people's mentality will change.

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS

[gauravakaasid]

^^right said

this incident is being milked by the media unnecessarily

[karnivore]

Until and unless we exorcise the ghost of so called "Indian Culture", we will have to carry the burden of being certified bigots.

I understand that some might feel uncomfortable with public display of affection, but no way, it justifies the monkey business thats happening in the name of "Indian Culture".

[virus_killer]

And one more fact behind this issue is " OUR POLITICIANS ", i don't know why they do all these, Don't they want to improve our country ? really men, i want to k#LL em.

Hmm. Just now i heard of mandira bedi controversy. That she was wearing world flag and the india flag was near to her feet?. Wow things are happening at rapid pace.

Source :- http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/apr/28man.htm
Pic :- http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1093522

[anandk]

he atmptd a step from his shallwedance movie.

the cases were launched by the complainants, purely bcoz of the media coverage they were xpctd to get, in view of gere's celebrity status.

so many such alleged incidents take place (esp by politicians) in out country all the time; but that time no one wants to raise the bogey of India's cultural blah blah !

[Ankur Gupta]

Originally Posted by thunderbird.117

Hmm. Just now i heard of mandira bedi controversy. That she was wearing world flag and the india flag was near to her feet?. Wow things are happening at rapid pace.

Source :- http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/apr/28man.htm
Pic :- http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1093522

Exactly what I was thinking when i saw her yesterday that this was objectionable...good that it has been brought up..

Originally Posted by karnivore

So Indians don't do all of those ?

Not in Public dude...
Our culture is like that...And it is much better than the western cultures but unfortunately the youth don't get tht..even me sometimes

[Kiran.dks]

Originally Posted by karnivore

So Indians don't do all of those ?

Don't do all these? Come on, that's a stupid question to ask. There are certain things not to be done in public in India. Richard should be aware of the Indian Culture. There is a lot of difference between Western culture and Indian Culture. He did it so becoz it's not a big deal for him. The same scenario assumed in western country would have no issues at all. But it really matters for a country like India. That's the Indian Culture, you respect it or disrespect it is your choice.

[karnivore]

Originally Posted by Kiran_tech_mania

Don't do all these? Come on, that's a stupid question to ask. There are certain things not to be done in public in India. Richard should be aware of the Indian Culture. There is a lot of difference between Western culture and Indian Culture. He did it so becoz it's not a big deal for him. The same scenario assumed in western country would have no issues at all. But it really matters for a country like India. That's the Indian Culture, you respect it or disrespect it is your choice.

I personally have serious reservation about this thing called "culture". Isn't is very subjective. It changes with perceptions and of course time. What was inappropriate 50 yrs back is certainly ok today. What is "un-cultural" today, will, surely be ok, 50 yrs from today.

Now i do agree with u that public display of affection is not something that is part of our practice [sorry mate, can't use the term "culture", cause culture is what u practice, u don't practice culture, although the self-claimed moralists want us to do exactly that], neither are we all comfortable with it.

But if someone chooses to publicly display affection, do we have the right to vilify him/her, the way it is being done. Everybody is entitled to his/her opinion and is free to criticize, but dragging them to court, pooh-poohing them in the name of "culture" - do u really think its a sign of a matured nation.

[ancientrites]

richard gere kissed shilpa shetty SO WHAT.you see lots of heavy smooches in bollywood movies.why dont we blame bollywood for ruining indian culture.Just look at current actor like imran hashmi,dino moreaand the director vikram bhat,and need i say actress name.you all know who i refer to.
indian culture is doomed.No use of maintaining indian culture.i can assure all of you if sonia ghandhi government rules for next 20 years term.she will convert india into europe.i love it

[xbonez]

richard gere will defenitely never make the mistake of coming to india ever again

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by ancientrites

i can assure all of you if sonia ghandhi government rules for next 20 years term.she will convert india into europe.i love it

Either this is overly sarcastic, or you're the worst kind of a fool I've ever come across.

[karnivore]

^^ Bullseye, mate

[aliasghark]

^absolutely

[Kiran.dks]

Originally Posted by karnivore

............
........................................
But if someone chooses to publicly display affection, do we have the right to vilify him/her, the way it is being done. Everybody is entitled to his/her opinion and is free to criticize, but dragging them to court, pooh-poohing them in the name of "culture" - do u really think its a sign of a matured nation.

That's were the awareness comes in. Now seeing this media hype, atleast some people get educated how to behave in Indian soil. Many will think twice before attempting such things unless untill one doesn't want to do it intentionally to capture media attention and popularity. Public display of such acts is nuisance. I personally have a bad experience in taking kids to places like Marine Drive in Mumbai or Lalbagh in Bangalore. What not to see in these places? Couples doing all the private things in public. To display to whom? Childrens are the worst hit. I feel embarrassed Kids glaring at these couples and asking questions. And don't tell not to take Kids to these places. Lalbagh and Marine Drive are not any dance bars. And if I don't want to take them to such places, I will have no other option than to lock them in a room. That's why we the people should be educated.

I agree that culture changes with time. But that doesn't mean that we ignore the current values and traditions. Follow it now and let it take it's own sweet time to change. Traditions are made to respect and that's how it should be.

Originally Posted by ancientrites

richard gere kissed shilpa shetty SO WHAT.you see lots of heavy smooches in bollywood movies.why dont we blame bollywood for ruining indian culture.Just look at current actor like imran hashmi,dino moreaand the director vikram bhat,and need i say actress name.you all know who i refer to.
indian culture is doomed.No use of maintaining indian culture.i can assure all of you if sonia ghandhi government rules for next 20 years term.she will convert india into europe.i love it

Our hero's are doing all those things are in a movie. A movie is censored and accordingly given a rating. The discussion going on here is about public display. You need to understand the current scenario and post comments.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

man get off it what is there to blow about , it was just a peck man and it's their perogative whatever they wanna do.

[Desi-Tek.com]

i think indian culture was very much in his mind when he was kissing shilpa thats why he just kissed her cheeks! no frenck kiss
and i think we guys r over reacting since shilpa her self enjoyed that movement look at her face
other wise she may have filed case against him!

[chesss]

This whole issue exists solely because of the Indian cricket team.
If they would have qualified for the finals or even to the semi-finals , then the media wouldn't have to resort to all this to get some TRP.

[ancientrites]

Originally Posted by Yamaraj

Either this is overly sarcastic, or you're the worst kind of a fool I've ever come across.

Hahaha i knew somebody would quote on my last lines.anyways i am sorry its just that speaking of culture something struck on my head and that was italian blood governing this country.surely she must have some sort of target to this nation CULTURE despite being indian.

Originally Posted by Kiran_tech_mania

Our hero's are doing all those things are in a movie. A movie is censored and accordingly given a rating. The discussion going on here is about public display. You need to understand the current scenario and post comments.

hold on there censored and rating are you trying to say kids wont watch those movies.Todays kids are much clever and they know what they are seeing.i am sure many kids have watched the richard kiss on news channel and have taken it lightly.that also goes to people.

its MEDIA making it flash on the front page.By the way richard kiss is old now almost 75% people have forgotten about it.Even i had forgotten about it until i saw a thread over hear.

i enjoyed that kiss,richard and shipa enjoyed it.some of you or almost all of you enjoyed it.So closed this thread.

[Kiran.dks]

Originally Posted by chesss

This whole issue exists solely because of the Indian cricket team.
If they would have qualified for the finals or even to the semi-finals , then the media wouldn't have to resort to all this to get some TRP.

Lol! This issue tied up with poor Indian Cricket team... Spare some place for our players to hide.

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by Indyan

If a simple peck on the cheek gets him hard the judge really needs to grow up.