Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty today defended actor Richard Gere for kissing her repeatedly at an Aids awareness event.

Speaking live from Mumbai, formerly Bombay, on GMTV this morning, Ms Shetty said: "Oh my God, so much has been blown out of proportion."

Angry crowds in several Indian cities - where public displays of affection are largely taboo - were incited to burn effigies of Gere and the Celebrity Big Brother winner after photographs of their embrace on Sunday were printed on newspapers' front pages.

Shetty told GMTV presenter Penny Smith: "I think too much has been made out of something that was really quite unimportant.

"He was trying to strike his dance pose from Shall We Dance, his previous movie, and he kind of, you know, just bent over me and he kissed me on the cheeks - I mean, that was it!

"Then they kept playing and replaying it on the channels and people didn't even know why we were there, and that kind of saddened me and infuriated me.

"People never even talked about the issues."

Shetty said she did not believe that the effigy-burners - who in Mumbai were members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena - were typical of her country.

"It was just, you know, some lunatic fringe - that complete minority voice - that definitely doesn't represent the symbol of my country."

She said she held a press conference in India after the protests took place to explain what happened, and she claimed the "sensible media" now realised what they had done.

"There's a complete turnaround now," she said.

When asked by Smith if she was worried, Shetty said she was more concerned for Gere because "he's someone who doesn't belong to my country", and she hoped the Indian public would respect the work he has done there for HIV and Aids.

"I jumped into the picture. Normally I wouldn't react to these things but he's someone who has done so much for our country."

She added: "We must stand up and appreciate that and not digress from the main issue."

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