Instant Fame for Shilpa Shetty
I had no idea who Shilpa Shetty was until Richard Gere performed this unthinkable act on her on Sunday. NEW DELHI - Angry crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies Richard Gere on Monday after he swept a popular Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty into his arms and kissed her several times during an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi. Pictures were splashed across Monday's front pages in India — a country where sex and public displays of affection are largely taboo. In Mumbai, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and set fire to glamorous shots of Shetty. It sounds more like a Shilpa Shetty awareness event. And I wouldn't have the foggiest idea where to get effigy materials. In some places, the effigy thing seems to be second nature. Just like hugging is here. Shilpa Shetty is a cool name, though. Kind of rolls off the tongue. I suppose Gere is supposed to know better? Gere is a well-known Buddhist and an act...