Richard Branson plants a smacker on actress Neha Dhupla

Richard Branson sweeps a Bollywood actress off her feet and gives her a cheeky kiss during a promotional show for his telecoms business.

The Virgin airline tycoon stunned former Miss India Neha Dhupia with the move which sent-up actor Richard Gere's ill-advised lunge at Celebrity Big Brother star Shilpa Shetty during a live press conference in New Delhi.

Hollywood star Gere was threatened with court action after grabbing Shilpa Shetty and kissing her on the cheek when they appeared on television together.

Top gun Branson puckers up for cheeky smooch with Bollywood actress

Head over heels: Branson sweeps the Bollywood actress off her feet

An astonished Dhupia, 27, said: "Richard charged on the stage, did some smart bhangra steps and hugged me.

"Next thing I knew, he lifted me and twirled me around. I was shocked."

Branson was also filmed imitating an iconic 007 pose - brandishing two guns at one time.

Branson, 58, was in India to promote his telecoms business. India'a mobile phone market is growing by eight million a month and he has done a deal with Tekecom's giant Tata Indicom.

License to thrill: The 58-year-old in 007 stance on set in Mumbai

Send-up: The infamous clinch between actor Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty caused an outcry among hard-line Hindus who accused the pair of violating anti-obscenity laws

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty has 'ruined my marriage' says love rival

She was the one Big Brother contestant who it seemed could do no wrong.

But Shilpa Shetty's virtuous reputation took a battering when she was accused of ruining another woman's marriage.

Kavita Kundra insists her estranged husband Raj's obsession with the Bollywood actress has destroyed any chance of them getting back together.

Just good friends: Raj Kundra with Shilpa Shetty in London

She claimed the British-based Indian businessman and film producer has become a different person since he met Shetty in the months after the breakdown of his three-year marriage.

The pair have been close ever since, and were together at the recent London launch of her perfume S2 and at the IIFA awards - the Indian equivalent of the Oscars.

Yesterday a fuming Mrs Kundra said: 'I look at the pictures of them together and think, she's with my husband, she's living my life.

Break-up: Raj Kundra and his wife Kavita

'She is a cultural icon in the Indian community.

'She can have any man she wants and there are plenty of single men about.

'While I was trying to put our marriage back together, he was talking constantly about Shilpa, as if it didn't matter what happened to us because he had found someone better, cleverer and more famous than me.

Brutal: The text Raj Kundra sent to his wife

Now he has begun pestering me for a divorce. 'I asked him if he planned to marry someone else but he avoided the question.'

Although there is no suggestion that 32-year-old Shetty was involved in the initial collapse of Mr Kundra's marriage, his wife's complaints are a blow to the clean-cut image of the star, who won over Britain with her gracious manner in the face of bullying and racist taunts on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year.

Mr Kundra, 31, split with his 25-year-old wife last November, a few weeks after the birth of their now ten-month-old daughter Deleena.

She moved out of the home they shared with his parents in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and returned to live with her family in the Midlands.

But attempts to revive the marriage for the sake of their daughter floundered after he met Shetty after she won the Celebrity Big Brother Contest in January.

Mrs Kundra told the Mail on Sunday that her husband first spoke about her during a weekend visit to see his daughter - and boasted that he had been suggested as a future husband of the star.

'He said "Guess what? Shilpa and her mother have been asking personal questions about me - liking me for a potential husband.

'I asked if he had met her and he said he had.

'I asked him if he liked her and he said, "She's pretty. She's nice."

Mrs Kundra now claims she no longer recognises the man she fell in love with.

'He has changed so much since becoming involved in the Bollywood set.

'He looks and seems completely different. He is not the person I married.'

She added: 'If he is planning to marry Shilpa, I would say to her, good luck. I was never the kind of wife he wanted. He always told me, "You're not ambitious." '.

Mr Kundra insisted the couple were 'just good friends' who met three months ago and had a professional relationship as he as the licenser of the perfume with Shetty.

Shilpa Shetty

Danielle and Shilpa 'kiss and make up' at premiere

Danielle Lloyd has attempted to put the Celebrity Big Brother race row behind her by turning up at the world premiere of Shilpa Shetty's new film.

Shetty, 31, dazzled on the red carpet in a pink sari after arriving at the Leicester Square event with her sister.

Danielle Lloyd was invited to the world premiere of Shilpa Shetty's new film Life in a Metro where the pair hugged and made up

Lloyd, vilified after ganging up on Shetty with Jade Goody and Jo O'Meara, wore a black slit to the thigh dress which revealed a little too much when she tried to untangle it from under her heel.

Goody was reportedly taken off the guest list for Life in a Metro by Shetty's publicist Max Clifford after originally being invited to the event.

Shetty, wearing a RockyF gown said: "This is the first ever Leicester Square premiere for an Indian movie. It's something that I once dreamed of but never imagined would happen."

She said of the film, which features a collection of stores set in Mumbai: "Audiences are ready and looking for something different, for interesting cinema."

Shilpa and Danielle greet each other warmly at the Leicester Square premiere of Shilpa's new movie Life in a Metro

Legs eleven: Danielle shows a bit more than she intended in a thigh-high split gown

Asked about whether she would move to the UK she said: "I love my country. I am very proud to be Indian."

Shetty admitted the Big Brother race row had helped her career saying: "It made me a stronger person and a more famous person of course."

Lloyd wearing a dress by Eric Way said: "Shilpa invited me here. I've come to support her tonight. It's my first Bollywood movie and I'm really excited."

The model said she had a good reception from fans outside, despite her reputation taking a nose dive after appearing on the Channel 4 reality show.

"Everyone has been fantastic. Everyone has been really supportive," she said.

Lloyd added that she was enjoying the single life after being dumped by her second footballer boyfriend.

Shetty was an unknown before she went on to win Celebrity Big Brother after being ganged up on by the trio of female housemates.

She recently caused controversy again in India when Hindu nationalists took offence to Hollywood star Richard Gere openly planting kisses on her cheek at an aids awareness event.

Since the reality show Shetty has met the Queen, been offered a part in a musical, is bringing out her own perfume and has been inundated with a string of offers for commercials, modelling work and book deals.

Goody has split with her agent while O'Meara became a virtual recluse. Meanwhile Lloyd has attempted to make a come back, getting photographed in revealing outfits coming out of nightclubs.

Danielle Lloyd , Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty Wins Big Brother

Bollywood Superstar Shilpa Shetty has won Channel 4's reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother" and bagged an estimated 100,000 pounds (almost Rs 9 million) in prize money.

The results didn't come as a surprise because the leggy Indian star was tipped as the favorite to win.

This is what Shilpa says "I have zero expectations. The only thing I really hope to keep is my self-respect and my dignity."

Shilpa, 31, the first Indian to participate in the British TV show, was reportedly paid in excess of 40,000 pounds for her participation.

"She was leading all the betting sites," Shilpa's publicist Dale Bhagwagar said.

Shilpa's being on the show, which started January 3, didn't make as much news as the racist slurs hurled against her by her housemates, namely British contestant Jade Goody who has since been voted out by the audience.

Housemates Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara seemed to have ganged up against Shilpa during her stay.

She became the subject of their snide and biting comments because of her svelte figure, poise and charm, good dressing sense and background as a popular Bollywood actor.

The racist comments caused outrage in India and Britain, with the issue figuring in the House of Commons and feminist diva Germaine Greer, and even two Indian ministers, demanding corrective action.

Shilpa, who made her debut in Bollywood with the 1993 super hit "Baazigar" which also starred reigning superstar Shah Rukh Khan, never managed to touch the skies as a star. Her slinky dance numbers were more appreciated than her emoting.

But now her popularity ratings have soared suddenly - thanks to the controversial reality show.

"Hollywood film offers have started coming in. Apart form the US and Britain, offers are coming from Spain and Singapore too. Also, the Indian film industry suddenly seems to have woken up to the new Shilpa," said Bhagwagar.

Other contestants who participated in it were Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine, A-Team star Dirk Benedict, Donny Tourette of punk band The Towers of London, ex-Steps star Ian "H" Watkins and "Kenny Everett" Show actress Cleo Rocos.
Source : Masala News

Shilpa Shetty