Angry Indian crowds beat effigies of Richard Gere and burnt photographs of the Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty today after the two shared a very public embrace.

Gere kissed the Bollywood actress on the hand and then the cheek before ostentatiously sweeping her up in his arms during an HIV/AIDS awareness event in New Delhi yesterday.

Public displays of affection are generally taboo in India and when newspapers were full of pictures of the kiss this morning protests begun in cities across India.

Members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena lead the protestations in Mumbai. They burnt effigies of Gere and beat them with sticks, while setting fire to glamorous photographs of Shetty.

In the northern town of Meerut crowds chanted; “Down with Shilpa Shetty!”, while similar protests were held in Varanasi, Hinduism’s holiest city.

A spokesman for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the kiss, he said: “Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition.”

Shetty attempted to calm the matter today, by explaining that the kiss was part of Hollywood culture. “I understand this is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such manner,” she told the Press Trust of India news agency. "I understand people’s sentiments, but I don’t want a foreigner to take bad memories from here.”

Shetty became famous in the UK when she was at the centre of a racism row in Celebrity Big Brother, during which she was ostracised by her housemates.

Editor's choice

• Harry Potter to overtake James Bond as biggest franchise ever
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette