When Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness function recently, it sparked a minor furore.

There were demonstrations and some protesters burnt effigies of the Hollywood star.

A day after the incident, Shilpa refused to apologise and defended Gere.

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And she has not stopped defending him since. Recently, she told Britain's GMTV that 'much has been blown out of proportion.'

Shetty told presenter Penny Smith that Gere had tried to strike a dance pose from his earlier film, Shall We Dance. And 'that was it!'

'They kept playing and replaying it (footage of the kiss) on the channels and people didn't even know why we were there, and that kind of saddened me and infuriated me,' Shilpa continued.

The actress added that she did not think the protesters -- mostly members of the 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.

Shilpa said she was more concerned for Gere.

She concluded by saying that she 'jumped the picture' because Gere had 'done so much for our country.'