Richard Gere will make his debut at Karan Johar's popular chat show.
The actor talks about his experiences in India, about his AIDS campaigne in the country, and how Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Shabana Azmi and Bipasha Basu helped to set the ball rolling. He also confessed that he has seen Indian movies, and would love to act in a song and dance Bollywood movie!
Excerpts from this week's show:
Karan: My mother goes weak in her knees every time she sees you on television.
Richard: I have this bizarre thing happen. I was making a movie recently and there was a little press conference so that everybody would know what we are doing. And there was this young reporter there... so shy... and she came up to me and said, 'Mr Gere, three generations of women in my family love you -- my grandmother, my mother and me.' And I started blushing.
Karan: You have actually been very consistent in this -- working with your heart and soul for a while (cause of HIV Aids). But a lot of other celebrities come in initially... what do I call it... it's considered fashionable to fight a cause or do something.
Richard: It's not something that everyone does and maybe their interests are elsewhere or their voyage is elsewhere and there are other things they are working on. I don't blame them for that, but I am thankful to the ones to whom it does touch and they continue. The first time I came here and started working on HIV AIDS, which was a year ago, I thought that if we did two events -- one in Delhi, one in Mumbai -- it will change everything. I was very naïve and obviously, for a moment there were newspapers, talks and photographers, basically a lot of attention to this subject. So it meant really building this up from ground zero, how to build an organisation, how to build the network of friends, who are equally committed...
Karan: You feel they need to be?
Richard: Ya, I think. They can and they will be. You know, we did an event with 15,000 sex workers, which was extraordinary. A whole lot of actors and actresses volunteered for it. We didn't have to chase them down.
Karan: Is there any one particular actor that you have been interacting with that you feel has been very supportive?
Richard: Well, Shabana Azmi is one.
Karan: She has actually been fighting for the cause since many years.
Richard: And not just this cause but many causes. And there was... I forget the name... she was wonderful.
Karan: Bipasha?
Richard: Yes, Bipasha.
Karan: Yes, she is a lovely girl. And is also considered very sexy.
Richard: I can tell you she is very sexy and hot. Ya, she is terrific and very bright too.
Karan: Do you think in India, AIDS is considered to be a homosexual disease? There is a lot of ignorance?
Richard: People just think... yes, it is primarily sexually transmitted -- sex workers and truckers -- they are the ones who are in this culture, labeled the ones. 'That it is okay, if they die.'
Karan: Oh God!
Richard: Yes. But that's basically what has happened here. And of course, this disease has gone into the middle class community.
Watch Koffee With Karan this Sunday, May 20 on Star One and Star World, at 9 pm.