India doesn't need me or Gates to fight AIDS: Gere

MUMBAI: "You don''t need Bill Gates or Richard Gere to make things happen," he said, as the phalanx of photographers killed one another for a photo op.
"We are there to help, but India can do things on its own. You have great doctors here. Did you know that 30 per cent of the doctors in the US are Indian? It''s something to be proud of." At a media briefing held at the Turf Club on Friday evening, celebrity AIDS ambassador Richard Gere described the Aids situation in India as an explosion waiting to happen, but an explosion that could still be detonated.
The Hollywood Buddhist is in the country to raise money and awareness for one of the causes closest to his heart— the battle against AIDS.This is the second AIDS-related trip he is making in four years, only this time the initiative is focused on motherto-child transmission of the HIV virus.
Significantly, Mr Gere expressed disappointment over the outcome of his earlier visit, an equally hyped event. "There was so much generosity among Mumbai''s celebrity community last time," he said. "And I was hoping the energy would continue after I left, but nothing happened. I have to assume a greater leadership role in this movement." It may be recalled that on Gere''s last visit, a celebrity-studded event was held where Rs 40 lakhs was raised in a single evening.
Accompanying Mr G was Ms G, Parmeshwar Godrej, hostess and chief organiser of the Time for Heroes India event, which culminated in a Rs 4,500 per head fete overrun with celebrities and their children. Among the more prominent faces seen visiting the various game stalls were Amitabh Bachchan, who had a lucky win at the spin-a-wheel stall, Bose, Lata Mangeshkar, Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Fardeen Khan, Juhi Chawla, Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen with daughter Renee, Gauri Khan with both children and maid in tow, Anil Kapoor chewing gum, a gelled Karan Johar and health minister Shatrughan Sinha''s wife Poonam, resplendent in saffron and with her trademark sindoor.
"I haven''t slept for days," said a visibly tired Ms Godrej dressed rather understatedly in denim, "but the response has been amazing. There are about 1,200 people here today." As part of the evening''s entertainment, Anoushka Shankar performed, models strutted Manish Malhotra costumes, Usha Uthup and the celebrity gang danced on stage and Gere vowed the audience with a rousing rendition of Stand By Me.
Gere''s involvement with AIDS began with a desperate phone call from a friend who had just discovered that he was HIV positive. "In 1987 that was a death sentence, but of course, he is alive and well today," he said. "However, I''ve lost many friends to this disease, many just disappeared into the woodwork to avoid meeting people. It''s that stigma which we have to remove." Stealing the spotlight from the Hollywood hunk for a while was the diminutive 13-year-old Murgesh Krishnan from the Freedom Foundation in Bangalore, who narrated how it felt to have HIV and be turned away from schools. "I hear that there is a medicine which stops babies from getting HIV when they are in the mother''s stomach. I wish someone had given my mother that medicine," he said.
Gere was rather pleased at what he thought was the one concrete achievement of this trip—an assurance from Cipla''s Yusuf Hamid that the drug to prevent mother-to-child transmission would be supplied free. However, the announcement fell flat when Dr P.L. Joshi of the National AIDS Control Organisation said Cipla was already providing the drug free to various NGOs and that he was only reaffirming his commitment to Gere.