Photo: Richard Gere kisses Shilpa Shetty

We've always known Shilpa Shetty is a pretty woman, but now we have an official endorsement from a visibly smitten Richard Gere.

At Seena Taan Ke, an AIDS awareness function organised in Delhi on Sunday to benefit truckdrivers, Gere and Shetty spoke to the vulnerable community about the dangers and misconceptions of AIDS.

Gere, looking more than a trifly dizzy, didn't seem content merely to mention that HIV can't be passed on through a kiss on the cheek -- deciding to make his point by kissing first Shilpa's hand, then hugged her, kissed her cheek, and finally bent over the surprised actress to give her a big kiss, Hollywood-style.

While Shetty laughed it off with a poised 'yeh thoda zyaada ho gaya' ('this was a bit much') to the truckdrivers, they seem to have agreed. It is reported that audiences expressed distaste at this behaviour by a visiting celebrity. Some sections of the audience are apparently asking for an apology from both actors.

The curious thing is why Gere would choose to continually, and emphatically, keep kissing the actress in a show of safety -- while neither of the two have HIV, to begin with. Not that we blame him, of course.

Photograph: Getty Images