PEECHHE KI PHOTO MATT LO: ACTORS V/S PAPS

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 26, 2024)

The culture of the paparazzi is growing more and more prevalent every day. Stars are always popping up on our Insta feeds, wherever they go — from airports to gyms, courtesy popular pap pages. However, when female stars’ “zoomed-in” body parts appear on pap pages, these so-called “spotted images” become the target of criticism from both celebs and fans. Currently, a number of stars are refusing to be photographed, especially from behind, worrying about being “zoomed-in pictures”. We spoke with paps to learn the reality.

Actors say

Nora Fatehi, in an interview with News18, accused the paps of ‘zooming in’ on inappropriate places: “I guess they’ve never seen a bu*t like that before. It is what it is. The media doesn’t just do it to me but to other female actors as well. Maybe they don’t zoom into their bu*t because it’s not exciting, but they zoom into their other body parts unnecessarily. Sometimes, I think that there’s nothing to zoom into, so what are they focusing on?”

Actors Palak Tiwari and Mrunal Thakur recently refused to give a backpose to the paps. Thakur shook her head on the red carpet, saying, “Aapke cameras pahunch hi jayengey.” Tiwari, on the other hand, requested the paps not to click her from the back, “Peechhe ka matt lena,” but when the paps present didn’t listen, she reprimanded them.

Photographers say

PALLAV PALIWAL
No one wants to zoom in on the body parts. Nora continuously gives a back pose, then turns and waves. As for what Mrunal Thakur and Palak Tiwari said, the new trend of ‘Guess who?’ is on the rise. If they are at an event where cameras are placed, they will invariably end up shooting them from both the front and the back.

MANAV MANGLANI
Some people do zoom in for the views they will get. But I don’t think these people are paps; they are from YouTube and do it to increase their visibility. This is wrong. If someone from my team shoots such videos, I shout at them and don’t send them to my clients. We don’t even publish it on our social media pages.

VARINDER T CHAWLA
We don’t zoom in on body parts — not just my team, but the other pap teams too. Star ko kaise pata chalega shoot karne wala pap hai ya fan? They go to several public places. On the other hand, there are also certain celebs who do it deliberately for us to click. But we still refuse to publish these videos.