Richard Gere coming back to India

Richard Gere’s coming back and efforts are on to make the Hollywood star sign an international project to be directed by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Goutam Ghose.
The film titled Lala will see Gere play a writer in India. However, the hitch is that Gere was heavily panned by rights groups in 2007 when he kissed Shilpa Shetty’s cheek during an AIDS awareness programme for truck drivers outside New Delhi.And the actor, who has frequently visited India to help the Tibetans, was served with an arrest warrant. His popularity has also taken a beating.
Efforts are on to see that the incident does not haunt Gere during his visit. Legal opinion is also being taken as the filmmakers don’t want the award winning actor to land in India and be whisked away to prison. Gere, it seems, also needs an assurance that such kind of incident will not damage him further.
The film itself is a controversial one as it will see Gere get involved with the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The script will see him take up the issue of the region, a heavily politicized subject that also got Aamir Khan some heat from political parties in Gujarat.
So, if Gere’s name is not a flashpoint, the project certainly has the capability to irk many due to its content. Will he risk another panning from people in India is something that we have to watch out for. As of now, he is reportedly very keen. He is expected to shoot in the Narmada Valley and Mumbai as well as in France and a couple of other countries. This project truly might mark the return of Richard Gere on Indian soil.
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