Richard Gere and public affection in India don’t mix

how we live — By Bob Riel on April 26, 2007 at 4:14 pm

Well, just when reports indicate that public affection is becoming more common in India, now there is word that an arrest warrant has been issued for the actor Richard Gere because of a public kiss. Really. Seems that Gere went a bit overboard during a charity event and planted some kisses on the cheek of the Indian actress Shilpa Shetty as he dipped her backwards. Shetty has also been issued an arrest warrant. The Washington Post reports:

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…

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.”

The article does note that other “such cases against celebrities” have been previously filed in India ”by publicity seekers.” Nevertheless, the incident certainly points out that cultural standards of public behavior are far from uniform around the world.