In an AIDS awareness program, held recently in Delhi, Hollywood star Richard Gere took hold of Shilpa Shetty and kissed her before camera and amid the audience not prepared for such encounters. Well that raised a concern and the issue became more prominent than the theme that was to sensitize the truck drivers in India of AIDS. The act led to anguish and many people who felt offended by this act. The protestors burnt Gere's effigies soon after and demanded an apology from him for hurting Indian sentiments.
Shilpa however expressed strong criticism and was not happy with the reaction of people who insulted the duo and burnt their effigies. "We took out time and put money, and people are all going against us, they want us to apologize. For what should we apologize, we have talked about a pertinent issue like AIDS," Shilpa said in retaliation. She said that they were actors and the act was done to bring in humor. "There was nothing serious about it and Richard just did it to entertain the public," quoted Shilpa.
There seems a little politics involved as the protest couldn't be ascertained as real resentment or if it was a ploy by the BJP and other nationalist parties to encourage their support. Sudhir Kakar, who has written a novel based on the Kama Sutra and translated more than a dozen ancient text, says the answer is both. "The people who protest want the masses to be offended by the kiss," says Kakar, a psychoanalyst and a former senior fellow at the Center for Study of World Religions at Harvard. "They want people not to go down the road towards erotic freedom. There's a struggle going on for their votes actually." It's this silent majority, says Kakar, whose wrath the extremists are trying to invite. "The main thing is family, so they see any kind of sexuality as a threat to the family," he says.
Whatever the consequences be, the two film stars failed to understand the sensitivity of the subject and such a demonstration on stage can never be taken as a feasible one for programs like AIDS awareness, and that too among sections like truck drivers. Gere's dance move and smooch on the cheek went way beyond what is acceptable, at least according to the nationalists who claim that Shetty has dishonored her culture. Protestors after burning the effigies are planning to lodge a complaint against Shetty. "How much can you degrade yourself because you are being paid money to make an appearance?" asked Sumit Mishra, of the youth wing of BJP party in the state of Bhopal. As a foreigner, said Mishra, Gere could be excused. "We are not bothered about the times he kisses and how many women in Hollywood. We are troubled with Shilpa's behavior. Mishra further enquired: "When the man was being outrageously indecent before a large gathering, why did she keep giggling? That encouraged him more. Why didn't she protest?"
null
|
|
Read More: Delhi
Comments:
