Earlier this week, actor Alia Bhatt took to her Instagram and called out the paparazzi, who tried to click her inside her residence in Bandra. The actor also slammed the publication for publishing her private picture without her consent. She wrote, “I was at my house having a perfectly normal afternoon sitting in my LIVING ROOM when I felt something watching me. I looked up and saw two men on the terrace of my neighbouring building with a camera right at me! In what world is this okay and allowed? This is a gross invasion of someone’s privacy! There’s a line you just cannot cross and it’s safe to say all lines were crossed today! (sic).” She also tagged the Mumbai Police in her post.
Regular offenders
Following Alia's post, her friends from the cine fraternity Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar, Janhvi Kapoor, and Soni Razdan condemned the incident and shared their own experiences of breach of privacy. It is true that we, as Indians, are obsessed with our Bollywood and cricket celebrities and with paparazzi culture the obsession has gone to higher levels. The audience wants to see everything, from celebrity parties to their kids and their movements. And so, the Bollywood photographers are on their toes to cater for those needs by providing them exclusive pictures on their social media which have millions of followers. However, the question is — where to draw the line. The intrusion of privacy, lack of consent and following celebrities to any length is the paparazzi culture going too far in India?
Manav Manglani, a famous Bollywood photographer condemns the act. “This should not happen. This happened in the past when a photographer captured Sara Ali Khan in the pool. They are regular offenders. My team has been given instruction of no snooping unless they have an event,” says the ace photographer, who is followed by Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, and Dia Mirza among many other celebrities on Instagram.
Privacy, please!
Similarly, Viral Bhayani, a senior Bollywood photographer who was also invited to Koffee With Karan says, “This is a complete intrusion of privacy and none of the popular paparazzi team would do that. The photographer comes from a reputed publication and he should have thought about it. One person's action affects the entire fraternity.” Viral also reveals that there were other photographers as well who were taking shots of Himesh Reshamiya during his shoot in the neighbouring building. “But none of our photographers would do that. It's their home, you can not capture someone in their house. Paparazzi is not to abuse someone's privacy,” adds Viral.
Television actor Rajeev Paul says intrusion into anyone's privacy is against the law. “The publication should extend an apology to the actor. No one would like to be clicked in their home. Paparazzi culture is going too far and you can't enter someone's house to click a picture without invitation and consent. This is wrong for any individual. This is like heckling and stalking. This is terrible,” says the former Big Boss contestant adding that just because they are paparazzi they don't get all the powers. “We live in a civilised country and some actors may not like getting clicked otherwise as well and they should respect that,” adds the actor.
Not the first time
In the past, many actors have condemned the paparazzi culture invading their privacy. Veteran actor Jaya Bachchan has always been shooing the paparazzi away and she calls the photographers intruders. She has been candid about paparazzi meddling in her private affairs and she declined to cater to it. Taapsee Pannu also had recently been in fights with the paps. The Thappad actor was annoyed when she was getting interrogated about the late comedian Raju Srivastava's passing away by paps who surrounded her.
In another instance, Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli have also condemned the paparazzi when their daughter Vamika was clicked off guard. They cleared that they will not allow their daughter's pictures to be shared online. From down south, actor Suriya and his wife Jyothika had also requested paps not to take their kids' pictures when the couple was in Mumbai recently.
This is not it! The paparazzi was literally hounding when actor Rhea Chakraborty was undergoing trial during the Shushant Singh Rajput suicide case. The actor was manhandled and hounded by paps outside the court every time. In another instance, Shehnaz Gill was mobbed by the paparazzi for a picture during Sidharth Shukla's funeral. Her pictures were shared on social media and publications extensively.
Later, Saqib Salim called out the paps and called the media 'vultures'. "I get the fact you need to click pictures, that's how portals run but n the process you have become vultures. Sticking a camera to someone’s face has to be one of the most inhuman things one can do.. You want to click a picture pls do.. but give people the space to grieve. We (actors) have created this circus. We give these photographers access to our lives. From telling them what time we go to the gym, to what restaurant we eat at. Telling them our flight schedules so that they can come and click a picture and put it out. They charge a fee to do that and we happily pay them. This has been going on for a while but what this has done is that it's made them look at us as an Instagram post. I am writing this to remind all of us life is beyond all of this. (sic),” Saqib had written in his post.
“Our photographers obey when any actor is uncomfortable getting clicked. It is okay to click them when they are outside a restaurant or heading for an event. Paparazzi is not about intruding on someone's private life and actors know that. That's why they stop for the paps for pictures,” says Manav and Viral adds, “Though paparazzi culture is there big celebrities' pictures don't earn us more money. Rakhi Sawant and Uorfi Javed are more famous than any celebrity on the internet. I strictly believe that privacy should be respected and photographers from media houses need to be sensitive about it.”
