All Aflutter Over a Pucker-Read Point 9!

If the Indian censor board has allowed kissing on screen, instead of the ridiculous flowers, birds and bicycles colliding, people probably would have been blas about it. But look at the uproar over the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty episode - and many more besides - and it seems so much like a storm in a tea cup!

A list of ten other smooches that offended or inflamed or plain entertained people: 1) Shashi Kapoor kissed Zeenat Aman on the lips in Satyam Shivam Sundaram, and folks complained, how come the censors are so liberal with Raj Kapoor?

2) Padmini Kolhapure boldly broke protocol rules and gave Prince Charles a peck on the cheek. She made front page news for it!

3) Madhuri Dixit was reported to be shocked and angry that she wasn't warned about Vinod Khanna kissing her in Dayavan. Many actresses started insisting on kissing clauses in their contracts.

4) Nelson Mendela's avuncular peck on Shabana Azmi's cheek at a public function had the fundamentalists screaming Anti-Indian, Anti-Islamic and whatnot!

5) Aamir Khan kissed the staid Karisma Kapoor in Raja Hindustani, the film was a hit and the kiss a big talking point. By this time, the censors also started looking the other way, because the kiss was no longer an oddity, what with everyone puckering up. The new breed of actresses were not at all squeamish or prudish.

6) Probably the only time a film was actually sold on the bizarre publicity gimmick of 17 kisses. It made Khwahish a moderate earner and Mallika Sherawat a star. Strange that hardly anyone would remember, without some strain on the memory, who was the guy she kissed 17 times, and who, besides the clever PR person actually counted!

7) By the time Emraan Hashmi came on to the scene and kissed Mallika Sherawat again, kissing was no big deal, but when this guy started, he never stopped, and earned himself the sobriquet of 'Serial Kisser'. Now when he doesn't smooch the heroine, the film flops, or so it is believed!

8) The audiences were agog: Ice Maiden Aishwarya would kiss Vivek Oberoi in Kyon Ho Gaya Na, the hurried, passionless peck on the lips left no impact; but when Ash did it again with Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom 2, there were obscenity cases filed and protests from strange quarters, not the least the B company.

9) Some minor singer Mika, grabbed minor item girl Rakhi Sawant and kissed her, the incident made national news, when more severe cases of sexual harassment are ignored. It just proved that Rakhi is a smart publicity seeker and the media loves a good tamasha.

10) It hasn't been seen yet but it already controversial-the alleged kiss between Sushmita Sen and ex-boyfriend Randeep Hooda in Karma, Confessions and Holi. The lady protests that using it as a publicity stunt is a cheap tactic

http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/04/18/2548/