Brown throws weight behind Big Brother India star

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Visiting one of Bollywood's top studios, Britain's Finance Minister Gordon Brown threw his weight behind an Indian actress who has been at the center of a storm over accusations she was racially taunted on a British TV show.

Brown's visit to India, meant to raise the profile of Britain's likely new prime minister, has coincided with a controversy over whether Shilpa Shetty was bullied and racially abused on Britain's "Celebrity Big Brother".

"There is a lot of support for Shilpa. It is pretty clear we are getting the message across. Britain is a nation of tolerance and fairness," he told reporters after visiting Bollywood producer Yash Raj Chopra and some film stars at a studio in a northern Mumbai suburb.

Shetty and her main tormentor, loud-mouthed former dental nurse Jade Goody, have been shortlisted for eviction by fellow housemates on the show and face off in a public vote on Friday. Goody is hot favorite to be kicked out.

"It is pretty clear how people in this Bollywood studio would vote if they had to vote," Brown added.

Brown received a red carpet welcome from Bollywood despite the "Big Brother" controversy which has even seen the Indian government ask Britain if race laws have been broken.

Brown, taking time off from meetings with Indian business leaders and politicians, was shown a Bollywood dance sequence involving some of India's biggest stars.

His visit was scheduled before the "Big Brother" row.

Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry, makes around 1,000 movies a year and has become increasingly popular in Britain.

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The row was front-page news for the third day running in Indian newspapers. Television channels have slotted it ahead of news of India-China border talks and investigations into a gruesome serial killing near New Delhi.

But newspapers have exercised caution in condemning the treatment meted out to Shetty on the show, saying the Indian government was getting sidetracked from important issues during Brown's visit.

"There is absolutely no reason for the Indian government to get involved or for the British government to be required to respond," the Times of India said in an editorial.

Even top Bollywood stars were cautious when commenting on the controversy.

"I wish her (Shetty) the very best. The experience I have had in London is that people have been very sweet," said Rani Mukherjee, often referred to as the "Queen of Bollywood" by local media.

"One or two people speaking badly doesn't speak for the whole country," she added.

"I'm afraid I haven't been following it, so I really don't know," said legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, referring to the controversy, after meeting Brown.

"Big Brother" is not available to Indian viewers who have their own, chaster, version, and most Indians were unaware of the show until the media-driven frenzy over Shetty's treatment.

"We are reading it in the papers and it's on TV as well. What is happening is not good," said Ravinder Sahu, a guard at a residential building in Mumbai.