Once dubbed the World's Sexiest Man, Richard Gere, the star of such Hollywood blockbusters as Pretty Woman and An Officer and a Gentleman, has an unstarry avatar. He heads the International Campaign for Tibet, a 14-year-old Washington-based organisation lobbying for human rights and self-determination for Tibetans. Last week, Gere was in India to promote his twin pet causes: Tibet and AIDS. The 53-year-old dapper actor-activist and practising Buddhist—who started out with Zen in his early 20s, and now meditates for "anything between 45 minutes and two hours every day", practises tai chi and wears a Tibetan bead bracelet—spoke to Soutik Biswas in a New Delhi hotel. Excerpts:
How does the International Campaign for Tibet work?
So, it's mostly lobbying with lawmakers to pressure China on Tibet?
How much of this lobbying has translated into real gains?
Is that all you've achieved?
Aren't the Bush administration's moves on Tibet getting sidelined with its preoccupation with the war against terror?
Are you happy with the Bush administration?
But how can you expect an administration that pushes for a war with Iraq and advocates violent interventions to push an essentially non-violent cause?
What would be the best strategy for Tibetan self-determination?
What do you think of the Tibet chic in China today with the Chinese coopting Tibetan culture, opening up the Plateau to tourists, teaching Buddhism after a fashion, so to say?
But if and when Tibetans are given real autonomy, won't it be too little, too late?
But the Tibetans have been reduced to a minority in their own homeland.
How do you react when there is talk about people like you, Harrison Ford, Goldie Hawn being simply out to promote Tibet chic in the West?
Or, is the world's sexiest man pushing the sexiest cause?
Or, a band of rebels with a cause running out of steam.
You are a Buddhist in Hollywood where there's greed, competition. Do you lead a schizophrenic existence?
But hasn't spirituality changed you as a person, or, maybe, as a Hollywood professional?
How many films do you have on your hand?
Without Apparent Motive
Primal Fear
Do you intend to retire after you finish with these movies?
Why not a film on Tibet?
Kundun
What does India mean to you?
