|
|
|
| Free E-magazine |
| Subscribe to our Free E-Magazine on Films. |
| Learn More |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Home > Articles > Paparazzi Culture in Bollywood
| |
| | Paparazzi Culture in Bollywood
| |
| |
Apart all the recent happenings in Boolywood, one trend that is catching up here is the paparazzi culture. The term paparazzi is termed itself by the celebrities as a pejorative term since they continuously hound the private lives of the celebrities. Earlier, gossip mongers in Bollywood were hardly present; and even if they did exist, they hardly did any damage to their private lives. All they did was to speculate the ongoing love affairs of one star with another (if any), since the film stars were too dignified and loved by the public. But now this paparazzi culture has definitely changed. There are recent exposures by various TV channels catching the populations` favourite stars on camera in embarrassing situations. This has happened due to the ever growing demand for fresh, and preferably salacious, footage by the country`s 24-hour news channels.
Indian showbiz gossip revolves almost exclusively around Bollywood actors. Thus, the newspapers and television stations have devoted the whole sections and programmes to celebrity tittle-tattle, a subject area known as "Page 3". These news channels have changed the entire scenario of Bollywood; they are interested in even the minutest details of the starlets. In todays world of stiff competition, every channel is striving to survive the same and hence the paparazzi culture is seen on a high. Even a small sneeze by the celebrities makes headlines so how can one not expect the celebrity private to life to be publicized? As our cultures` voracious hunger for celebrity snapshots grows, so do the prices of these photos and the risks paparazzi take to get them. Many ethical, legal and privacy issues arise out of this questionable business. Thus, all such reasons have made the celebrity circle awry of the paparazzi and are careful in not letting themselves be caught on the camera in awkward situations.
Recently, various celebrities like Riya Sen, Mallika Sherawat and many others have been a subject of mokery and ridicule since the paparazzi have claimed to have caught them live (and in action) with hidden cameras. This claim has yet to be confirmed by the celebrities, but the latter have definitely expressed their anguish and hurt feelings over the entire issue. However, here the problem is that with more advanced gadgets like cameras in the mobile phones, there has been an increase in the circulation of live pictures of people in embarrassing positions and most unfortunately alleged by the paparazzi to be the pictures of the celebrities themselves. The result: damaging the status and their social standing in the society!
The kiss remains one of Bollywood`s biggest taboos, so when Kareena Kapoor too, in an startlingly intimate smooch with her boyfriend and co-star, Shahid Kapur was caught in a steamy embrace in a restaurant and when the five-second video clip quickly made it on to television news bulletins across all channels, all hell broke loose! However, Kareena`s reaction was to deny angrily the authenticity of the clip and demand that the newspaper apologise or face a 200 million rupee lawsuit. The paper has refused and is standing by its story. Along with this, even other young stars expressed horror that they could be the next target and regard to pay such a heavy price for being celebrity was just not right.
But at least one of Bollywood`s veterans suggested that the couple had brought it on themselves. "If you allow yourself to be photographed, that`s no fault of the media," shrugged Amitabh Bachchan. This is considered as just by some of the people in the society. Although being a difficult culture to handle, the advent of the paparazzi culture is even regarded as a boon to some unheard bollywood stars and even for the newcomers in this industry. It cannot be ruled out that this culture has been brought in all thanks to this industry itself! Though as surprising as it may sound, it has been noticed that many compliant photographers have surely obliged the stars` whims and fancies to shoot their pictures, all in order to be an ongoing part of the Page3 culture and for the fear of being blacklisted and shut out of events!
| |
| |
|
