SS

Looks like Shilpa is riding the fame train and everything is helping her out, no matter how bad it seems. From suffering racial abuse on Celebrity Big Brother to meeting the Queen to being dipped and kissed by Richard Gere in front of Indian truck drivers, Shilpa’s fame seems to be growing and growing, despite being a bit unpopular in India.

Shilpa has been voted No 38 is FHM’s “Most Eligible Women in the World 2007″ list, making her one of the few Indian women to appear on the list.

Speaking about kissing on screen during a recent visit to Australia, she told Sydney Morning Herald, “I have never kissed on screen…I don’t want to do it but it is a personal choice; it is not because of a rule or law…”

Shilpa also said the hullabaloo was from a ‘lunatic minority’ and it does not reflect the sentiments of most Indians.

“The reactions to the Gere kiss — including a warrant for her arrest — were those of a lunatic minority. These are not the sentiments of the majority of people and it saddens me that this is how the West will perceive India,” she told the audience.

As much as Shetty promotes a modern India, she admits audiences are not ready to embrace the love scenes of Hollywood or Europe. “It is better to have a clean entertainment movie because those work better at the box office.”

Talking about the British reality show which catapulted her to fame, she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “because of Big Brother, there are all these people in the West who know me, but have never seen my work.”

Yeah, so that’s Shilpa’s story…I’ll tell you my story later, it’s much cooler than Shilpa’s…there’s a talking monkey in it.