[Red Moon]

Shilpa Shetty denies racism of British TV show participants

Any number of pundits have waxed eloquent on l'affaire Shilpa Shetty. The blanket coverage extended to her has generated more than 1,200 articles in English-language newspapers alone.

It's now time for the controversy, over racist abuse suffered by her on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother show, to blow over.

Shilpa is being taken to task in certain quarters for withdrawing her claims on racism of other participants on the programme, allegedly under pressure.

Her vocation, however, is the entertainment industry, and she is not obliged to turn herself into an icon of the anti-racist movement.

Watchers of the show have, in any case, voted overwhelmingly in her favour, while evicting her white tormentors.

Carphone Warehouse, the show's main sponsor, pulled its sponsorship of the programme - worth £3 million - because it thought that negative publicity over racism would affect its brand equity.

Shilpa has been flooded with work offers and invitations since her victory on the show, including engagements with the Queen and prime minister Tony Blair.

Meanwhile, the careers of her three tormentors - Jade Goody, Jo O'Meara and Danielle Lloyd - have nosedived. They have apologised to Shilpa.

All this amounts to a significant public relations victory for India. Shilpa has done the right thing by graciously accepting their apologies and moving on.

Persisting with the racism allegations could place them in trouble with the law. That certainly wouldn't be in the best traditions of Gandhigiri.

Appearing to carry a chip on her shoulder would overplay her hand and cause public sympathy to shift away from her.

To put things in a broader perspective, a globalised world order implies that we are all plugged in to each other. Such contiguity of diverse cultures is bound to create friction.

In the end, however, it will also generate greater awareness and acceptance - witness Shilpa's metamorphosis from a Bollywood has-been into a much talked-about public figure in the UK.

Source: The Times of India