- The Guardian, Tuesday 17 April 2007
Dangerous liaison... Richard Gere embraces Shilpa Shetty at an Aids awareness event earlier this year.
Many saw the act as an outrage against Shetty's modesty and Indian culture, though Shetty dismissed the protests as an "over-reaction" that made India look silly.
Groups of men burned and kicked effigies of the actors in protests across India, including in the northern Indian cities of New Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi as well as in the central city of Indore.
Some called for the actors' deaths. Others wanted public apologies.
"I admit it went a little overboard but that was not the intention," said Shetty. "He did not do anything obscene."
The clinch happened at an event in New Delhi aimed at encouraging truckers to wear condoms during sex.
