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Richard Gere clearly wasn't thinking about cultural improprieties when he playfully ravaged Bollywood hottie Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS rally in India recently, a bold gesture that led to public outrage, effegy-burnings, and—most shockingly of all—a serious egging of the New Delhi offices of the International Richard Gere Fan Club. Now, multiple lawsuits have been filed against both complicit parties:

Three lawyers have filed complaints in Indian courts against Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty for kissing at a public function, a news report said Wednesday.

Two other lawyers filed another complaint in a court in Ghaziabad, a town on the outskirts of the Indian capital, against Shetty and private television channels for showing videos of the kissing incident, the news agency added.

Such cases against celebrities — often filed by publicity seekers — are common in ultraconservative India. They add to a backlog of legal cases in the country that has nearly crippled the judicial system.

Ironically, all the controversy and legal action will only serve to further Gere's original motive—i.e. to stroke his own ego by demonstrating that he still has a dangerously irresistible way with the ladies. If the aging male sex symbol wanted to cause this much fuss over his burning loins back here in Hollywood, he'd literally have to tumble out, shivering and naked, from between the legs of a panty-less starlet as she pulls herself out of a limo on her way inside Hyde.