Lawyers Smack Down Gere's Kiss

Wed., Apr. 18, 2007 3:11 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

And we thought the critical reaction to Dr. T and the Women was bad...

Richard Gere is now the subject of possible legal action in India for a smooch gone awry after three attorneys filed formal complaints alleging the actor committed an "obscene act" by kissing Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty at a public conference Monday.

The PDA sparked a firestorm of controversy in a male-dominated country that prides itself on modesty and touched off protests organized by religious conservatives that saw Gere and Shetty burned in effigy throughout the country.

Per India's Press Trust news agency, two lawyers filed an obscenity claim in Ghaziabad, a town outside the Indian capital of New Delhi, against Shetty, as well as several private TV news broadcasters for airing the incident. Another lawyer, Poonal Chandra Bhandari, filed a separate complaint blasting the Chicago star for his overly exuberant behavior.

Such complaints could result in fines or, less likely, jail time.

Gere and Shetty appeared at a rally in New Delhi to launch a campaign promoting safe-sex awareness to fight HIV in India, the country with the highest rate of affections in the world. The 57-year-old American actor surprised the 31-year-old actress when, in a goofy attempt to re-create a scene from Shall We Dance?, he swept her into his arms, kissed her hand and then planted several more on her cheek.

Once images and video of Gere and Shetty's osculation began to circulate, Hindu traditionalists expressed outrage that a long-held cultural taboo had been violated—and by a westerner at that, with one of their top screen goddesses.

Within hours, groups of men organized demonstrations in several major cities and began torching posters of the stars, calling for "Death to Shilpa Shetty" (Death to Smoochy, perhaps?) and dancing around the ashes. India's militant Hindu nationalist party, Shiv Sena, also called on Gere to apologize and leave the country.

In subsequent interviews, Shetty came to Gere's defense, commenting that she believed "too much has been made out of something that was really quite unimportant."

"He was trying to strike his dance pose from Shall We Dance?, his previous movie. He kind of, you know, just bent over me and he kisses me on the cheeks—I mean, that was it!" Sky News quoted her as saying.

Shetty also took issue with the news media, noting that constant replaying has helped to stoke the controversy, and adding that "the vast majority of Indians aren't upset by such behavior," arguing that it came from mostly some "lunatic fringe."

Shetty's spokeswoman, Dale Bhagwagar, refused to discuss the complaints Wednesday but suggested that reporters had more worthwhile things to do.

"The media should concentrate on the promotion of the cause of AIDS awareness rather than making an issue out of kisses," Bhagwagar told the Associated Press.

A call to Gere's publicist, Alan Nierob, was not returned.

In any case, by the time the complaints were filed, the thespian and human rights activist already skedaddled across the border to the Nepalese city of Kathmandu, where he met with Tibetan refugees.

Gere, a dedicated Buddhist, has long been a strong supporter of the Tibetan independence movement to wrest control of the region away from China. He also founded the Tibet House in New York City, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture.