(29 Jan 2007) SHOTLIST
AP Television
29 January, Mumbai
1. Indian students watching the news on television showing the winner of the Celebrity British Big Brother competition.
2. Various of Shilpa Shetty, (Indian actress and winner of the British Celebrity Big Brother) on the television
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Norman, student:
" She won the Big Brother and this is a tight slap to those who believe in racism, especially her tormentors, Indians rock, and I'm proud of Shilpa being an Indian."
4. Students watching television
5. Various of Shilpa Shetty's apartment in Mumbai.
INDIA WELCOMES SHILPA'S BB VICTORY
Shilpa Shetty's victory in Celebrity Big Brother has been welcomed in India.
The Bollywood actress walked out of the Big Brother house to cheers and applause after being announced as the winner of the British TV reality programme on Sunday.
The show attracted international attention after the 31-year-old Indian star was the victim of alleged racial bullying that triggered protests in India and sparked a race relations debate in Britain.
Jessica Norman, a student in Mumbai, said she was proud of Shetty adding it was a victory for people who were against racism.
"She won the Big Brother and this is a tight slap to those who believe in racism, especially her tormentors. Indians rock, and I'm proud of Shilpa being an Indian," she said.
The Bollywood actress appeared to win the public's support after a fellow contestant Jade Goody allegedly used racially tinged remarks in an episode that led to a record 40-thousand complaints to media regulators about the programme.
The reality show forced the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Treasury chief Gordon Brown and Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram to comment on the incident, which South Asian and anti-racist groups said revealed the face of racism in Britain.
Shetty received 63 per cent of the telephone votes from the British viewers to win the competition.
After the show, Shetty defended fellow contestant Jade Goody, who repeatedly reduced the Indian actress to tears by shouting at her, calling her cooking untrustworthy, mocking her accent and calling her "Shilpa Poppadom."
The Indian actress added that she didn't consider Goody a racist and wanted to put an end to the matter.
She also hoped the British people would not see her as a troublemaker and offered her thanks to Britain for the wonderful opportunity of becoming a contestant on the Big Brother.
Goody became famous after appearing on the non-celebrity version of the British "Big Brother" and has earned an estimated 16 million (m) US dollars through television and magazine appearances, an autobiography and an exercise video, a livelihood now endangered by her behaviour in the house.
Contestants on the show are locked in a house for about three weeks and are evicted one by one until someone is chosen as the winner of a cash prize for charity.
The final six contestants were evicted from the house one by one, with the runner up being former Jackson Five leader Jermaine Jackson.
Shetty hired a British celebrity publicist to help develop her career in Britain.
He estimated on Sunday that she could earn two million (m) US dollars in the next year from new contracts after appearing on the show.
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