"It was just, you know, some lunatic fringe - that complete minority voice - that definitely doesn’t represent the symbol of my country."

She said she held a press conference in India after the protests took place to explain what happened, and she claimed the "sensible media" now realised what they had done.

"There’s a complete turnaround now," she said.

Shilpa buys UK base - Mar 24 2007
At least her treatment on Celebrity Big Brother doesn’t seem to have put Shilpa Shetty off the UK for good.

In fact, the 31-year-old has been offered so much work in Britain that she’s bought a house here, according to the Daily Star.

The Bollywood actress has apparently decided to splash out on a £1.5 million home in London’s trendy Hoxton area after being inundated with offers of TV, film and advertising work.

The star has reportedly put in an offer for a luxury five bedroom property which boasts a secluded west facing garden, three bathrooms and two reception rooms.

And she has apparently decided that enough time has passed for the Big Brother racism storm to have blown over enough for her to get back to work.

A source told the paper: "Big Brother was always meant to get her the publicity so she could launch a TV career here. The press she got was more than she could ever dream of, but it was just the wrong type.

"Shilpa now believes enough time has passed for all that to have died down, but does not want to leave it so long the British public forget about her."

Shilpa had nose job - Mar 21 2007
Shilpa Shetty had a nose job before she made her name as a Bollywood beauty.

Sky One documentary The Real Shilpa Shetty told how the actress was an ugly duckling before she turned herself into one of India’s best-looking female stars.

A spokesperson for the star confirmed she went under the knife, saying: "She has always been open and honest about the fact that she has had a nose job. It’s quite a normal thing for Bollywood actresses to have done. She had it done at the start of her career."

Asjad Nazir, Showbiz Editor of Eastern Eye Magazine, said in the documentary that the Celebrity Big Brother winner changed her look after appearing in Baazigar in 1993.

He said Shilpa "realised she had to go away and work on her look because she didn’t look great in the film".

"So the first thing she did was she had a nose job and then after the nose job she started getting a lot of grooming, right from her dodgy haircut to her clothes to getting physically into shape," he added.

He continued: "The Shilpa Shetty that you see today isn’t the Shilpa Shetty that you would have seen at school.

"At school she was lost in the crowd, she was an ugly duckling and sort of this tall skinny person who didn’t fit in with the kind of babes in the school."

The Real Shilpa Shetty will be repeated on March 24 at 8pm.

Shilpa to meet the Queen - Mar 12 2007
Shilpa Shetty is to meet the Queen and talk about her experiences of respect and understanding at a service marking Commonwealth Day today.

The Bollywood star, who was at the centre of a global race row during her time on Celebrity Big Brother, is to speak at the Westminster Abbey service.

She is one of five representatives chosen to share their own experiences of respect and understanding, the theme for this year’s celebrations, and will also be presented to the Queen.

Shilpa won the reality television show earlier this year amid a storm of protest at the way she was treated by fellow celebrities Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O’Meara.