VeeshanVault

Apr
16 Shilpa refuses to apologise for Gere kiss
Posted by Radiosargam
The shooting of Shilpa Shetty’s new film, Metro, came to an abrupt halt in Navi Mumbai (New Bombay) after some people, allegedly members of the Shiv Sena, went on a rampage on the sets.

The Sainiks were protesting against Richard Gere kissing the actress at an AIDS awareness programme in Delhi, and demanded an apology from Shilpa Shetty.

“The activists converged at the Vashi railway station where Metro was being shot and burnt an effigy of Shilpa and shouted slogans against her,” Ramrao Wagh, police commissioner, Navi Mumbai, told PTI.

“The situation has been bought under control with some activists being detained,” he added.

Several protests against the kiss were staged in Varanasi where Gere’s effigies were burnt. Protesters claimed the incident was ‘an attack on our cultural ethos.’

In Kanpur, protesters — mostly students — burnt effigies and demanded that Gere should leave the country immediately while demonstrators in Bhopal threatened to boycott Shilpa’s forthcoming films.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also disapproved the act, saying it was not part of Indian culture. “Such a public display is not a part of Indian tradition,” said party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.

Meanwhile, Shilpa held an impromptu press conference and exclaimed that she was ’shocked’ by the protests. “India has the second highest number of HIV patients in the world. Yet, we are talking about the kissing incident rather than the HIV cause. We should not waste national time on such trivial issues.”