[James]

Video - http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/pl...sp?showId=6142

Shilpa Shetty:"I will go to court"

Last Modified: 01 May 2007
By: Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Shilpa Shetty has told Channel 4 News' Krishnan Guru-Murthy she would go to court over the controversy of her kiss with Richard Gere.

One of the people still making the headlines here in India is the Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty.

She's currently facing a summons after she was pictured being kissed by Richard Gere at an Aids benefit. She could be charged with offending Indian culture.

But the ripples from her big Brother victory in the UK still continue as well. And when I caught up with her I asked here if she still thought there hadn't been racism in the Big Brother house.

Shilpa Shetty: "It touched upon an issue that needed to be talked about in the open. That is a very important issue - an issue that we don't go through in our country. For me I live in India and I've only read about racism.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: "Since you were a teenager attitudes in India must have changed. Is this a more liberal country now to how it was?

Shetty: "Definitely, definitely. I think the perception that people have of us in the West is of a very different India.

Media mileage

Guru-Murthy: "But you say it's more liberal and then people see all the fuss that goes on when you get kissed on the cheek by Richard Gere. That doesn't sound like a liberal country.

Shetty: "I don't want to believe that the sentiment of a lunatic fringe is the sentiment of my entire country. We are all in shock and I actually think it's ridiculous but we do respect the judiciary. I'm sure something great is going to even come out of this.

Guru-Murthy: "Can you explain how it happened that you get kissed on a stage in one part of the country and a judge somewhere at the other end of the country tells you to go to court?

Shetty: "More than anything else I think it's just someone trying to seek some media mileage at my cost, that's the way I'd like to put it.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: "But basically anybody can go to court anywhere...

Shilpa Shetty: "Yes, we're living in a democracy...

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: "And say I think Shilpa's broken the law...

India's morality

Shetty: "That's often misused. I think it's been misused at this point in time.

KGM: "But you will go to court and defend yourself will you?

Shetty: "If they tell me to appear I will do it. As the lawyer tells me to react I will."

Guru-Murthy: "But you'd stand up for your rights?"

Shetty: "I still believe that I haven't done anything wrong. How can I be blamed for something like that? So if people felt that I should apologise, why would I? What have I done? If I didn't hold Richard while he bent me over I would have fallen. And I didn't kiss him, he kissed me - on my cheek! For crying out loud!

Guru-Murthy: "Do you think India's morality will ever be the same as the West?

Shetty: "People want to ape India now - the whole yoga thing and the whole ethnic culture - it's something we need to be proud of. So why would we want to ape the West?"

http://www.channel4.com/news/article...o+court/487697