Bollywood kiss angers Indian conservatives

Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 5th December, 2006

Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan are facing criticism in India regarding their recent on-screen kiss in the action film Dhoom 2.

The Times of London reported that a criminal case has been filed against Rai and Roshan over the kiss.

Shailendra Dwivedi, a lawyer from Madhya Pradesh, filed the suit, accusing Rai and Roshen of lowering the quality of Indian women and encouraging obscenity among India's youth. Most Bollywood on-screen kisses, the Times reported, are sanitized pecks on the lips. Rai and Roshan's kiss was reportedly much more drawn out.

The Times reported that this latest incident comes on the heels of another public controversy involving a photograph of Vasundhara Raje, the woman chief minister of Rajasthan, air-kissing a woman at a World Economic Forum meeting.

Many in India are upset over what is being called the growing Westernization of Indian culture.

Have your say on this story