Humanitarian actor Richard Gere has done enough Aids awareness work and promoting the cause of Tibet and the Dalai Lama in India over the years, to earn wide scale respect. But one impulsive act of his has brushed the people of India the wrong way and earned the ire of many.

At a Aids fund raising event in Delhi, Richard got so enamored by fellow activist- actor and now ‘international' celebrity Shilpa Shetty (post Big Brother), that he almost forcefully planted quite a few kisses on the cheeks of the dusky beauty as he greeted her, in full view of the audience.

Now continuous coverage of the spur of the moment incident by the media and also wide scale protests and the effigy burning of the two, in places like Varanasi and Meerut, is enough to unsettle both Gere and Shetty.

The protestors feel that Hollywood superstar Gere violated Indian traditions by openly kissing the Indian actress. Also they feel that Shilpa should have protested more vigorously and just not stood there smiling.

While Shilpa remained unavailable for comment, her publicist issued a statement on her behalf. "The media should concentrate on the promotion of the cause of AIDS awareness, rather than make 'issues' out of Richard Gere's kisses," said Dale Bhagwagar, spokesperson and publicist to the actress.

Well ,this is another classic case of a mountain being made out of a molehill. Richard Gere must be feeling the same after encountering such a situation, probably for the first time in his life. But then, this can only happen in India. B list celebs Rakhi Sawant and Mika Singh garnered a lot of publicity last year by cleverly playing on their forced kiss tamasha.

In a country where rapes, molestations and sex crimes are on the rise and even the casting couch and vulgarity in Bollywood exists, looks like people are more worried than anything else about a ‘little exaggerated warm welcome' on the part of a Hollywood actor.