Gere and Shetty in trouble over kissing

Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty were caught in a political storm after the actor jokingly kissed the Bollywood star in public.

They provoked protests across India on Monday when Gere repeatedly kissed the Celebrity Big Brother winner on the cheek at an AIDS rally.

The main political party in the predominantly Hindu country, BJP, commented: "Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition."

Shetty has since said she was embarrased by the situation and told how Gere apologised to her afterwards.

"He specially told me to tell the media that he didn't want to hurt anybody's sensibilities," she explained. "He apologised to me profusely and I was embarrassed. His intention was that of entertaining the people and that was it."