Mumbai: Veteran actress-politician Jaya Bachchan’s remarks about paparazzi and their clothes had triggered a debate, with shutterbugs planning to boycott her completely.
Addressing the controversy, paparazzo Varinder Chawla said that Jaya’s remarks did hurt the media personnel and there were discussions to not click her photos at all.
Chawla further said that if she doesn’t like getting clicked, she can use the back entry instead of using the red carpet and creating a scene there.
Speaking to Siddharth Kannan, Chawla said, “We personally felt very bad about her remarks against my employees. All of us were hurt. There are multiple ways to express your views, but this was not the way to do it.”
Explaining how several celebrities have set boundaries with the media, Chawla shared, “Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, all of them invited the paparazzi for tea and politely requested us not to click their children. To date, we have respected that request and never photographed their kids.”
“Many photographers discussed that if Jaya ji doesn’t want us to click her, then perhaps we should stop doing so altogether. Not as a boycott, but simply by telling her politely that we won’t click on her anymore. Not once have our boys misbehaved with her. They always address her respectfully as ‘Jaya ji’. God knows why she appears so frustrated all the time, but this has been her nature for years,” Chawla continued.
Talking about options that celebrities have of avoiding paparazzi at events, Chawla suggested, “Every event has two entries, the red carpet and the back entry. If you don’t want to be clicked, quietly enter from the back. Your PR team and event organisers can easily guide you. But if you deliberately walk the red carpet and then create a scene, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Jaya ji must have several staff members at home who wear uniforms. But behind the scenes, who knows their financial situation or personal struggles? Her comments don’t just affect photographers but everyone working in the industry, including spot boys. It reflects how she views the common man,” Chawla said on the veteran actress’ comment on cameraperson’s clothes.
For the unversed, during an interview with Barkha Dutt on Mojo Story, Jaya had said, “Yeh jo bahar gande, tight pant pehnke, haath mein mobile leke ghoomte hain, they think that just because they have a mobile phone, they can take your picture and say whatever they want. The kind of comments they pass, kahan se aate hain, kis tarah ka education hai, kya background hai? And these people will represent us? Just because they can upload content on YouTube or social media platforms?”
