Showing posts with label Varinder Chawla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Varinder Chawla. Show all posts
Complaint against Jaya Bachchan for remark against paps; Viral Bhayani breaks silence on controversy
11:01 AM
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 5, 2025)
At ‘We The Women’ event in Mumbai earlier this week, Jaya Bachchan expressed her displeasure with the paparazzi as she said, “Yeh gande gande pant pehen ke, mobile leke [aa jaate hai]… They think that because they have a mobile, they can take your picture, say what they want. The kind of comments they pass!” While the senior actor’s sharp comments were deemed as “elitist” by several industry voices, the issue has now escalated further. Some of Bollywood’s paparazzi agencies are preparing to file a formal complaint with the Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) against the veteran actor’s remarks. They are said to be in discussions before submitting their official complaint.
Bachchan’s statements, where she questioned the background and attire of paparazzi, have left many in the community feeling demeaned, with some photo syndicates considering boycotting her.
Speaking to mid-day, Manav Manglani, who runs an entertainment photo syndicate of about 20 stringers, said, “She doesn’t want to be clicked; we won’t click her. Jaya ji is not someone who gets eyeballs anyway. If she is with her family and wishes to pose happily, then we may [photograph her].”
Leading photographer Varinder Chawla, who runs an agency employing 15 stringers, told mid-day that the remarks were uncalled for. “We should have some self-respect and not cover her. Every time we have clicked her pictures, we have referred to her as Jaya ji. She hasn’t been disrespected. It’s not okay for the privileged to insult those who are doing an honest day’s work. Jaya ji’s comments need to be responded to and sternly so. Why couldn’t Jaya ji have a conversation with us? We always listen. Ranbir [Kapoor] and Alia [Bhatt] asked us not to click Raha [their daughter], we don’t.”
Besides the complaint, the agencies, in association with CINTAA, are hoping to establish a code of conduct that addresses actors’ concerns about intrusion and safety, and paps’ concerns about mistreatment. Chawla admitted that zealous fans sometimes blend in with photographers, leading to incidents of verbal run-ins or crowding at events. The sentiment is that there is an urgent need for formal guidelines governing interactions between celebrities and photographers.
“There is no unity among paps today; anyone with a camera gets clubbed with us and we get a bad name. There are fans posing as us, trying to get inappropriate with actors. Between Yogen Shah and me, we want to ensure that a meeting takes place with actors where we can discuss the issues. Earlier, we had requested Suniel Shetty sir to facilitate this,” added Chawla.
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A lot of kids pretend to be paps, comment on celebrities-Viral Bhayani
Leading paparazzo Viral Bhayani talks about the unregulated pap culture, even as he calls out Jaya Bachchan for her statement about photographers’ clothes
I like Jaya Bachchan more than I do Amitabh Bachchan because I’m like her — I’m straight-forward, I say whatever is in my heart and that sometimes gets me in trouble. Jaya ji has been very sweet to me, and at times, she has snapped at me as well. You have to understand her mood. Every time I would ask her politely for a picture, she wouldn’t deny.
What she said is partially true, especially when she mentions that paps pass [disrespectful] comments. If you look at the history of paparazzi [in India], there were very few in the beginning. We had ethics and responsibility towards our work, and respected everyone. We maintained decorum. [We were mindful] about our language. Also, we weren’t loud. Patience is important in our profession. But today’s kids don’t have patience. They start screaming and get anxious when an artiste doesn’t come on time.
What has happened now is that the pap [culture] is not regulated. There are a lot of kids who just take phones and pretend to be paparazzi. In case they make a comment at a celebrity, we wouldn’t know. I’ve seen this happen outside some restaurants in Bandra. It’s awful.
Some of them click women if they are wearing short clothes. That has created a bad image of us. Paparazzi is not supposed to be running after semi-naked women. We are interested in good content and good celebrities.
We try to educate our [employees] about how to cover funerals as well. We tell them to cover it in a dignified manner. We should have a moral code, a shared sense of responsibility within the community on how to cover celebrities and events. For instance, I have a rule that nobody in my team will click selfies with celebrities. If you’re seen posing with your arm around a female celebrity, you’re out of my office.
But what I didn’t like is Jaya ji speaking about someone’s poverty. Anyone can be poor. Everyone works hard. Don’t underestimate anybody. I have also risen from a poor background. We change things with our hard work and determination. You can also not comment on someone’s attire. It’s not right to make such statements on clothes or someone’s appearance. Jaya ji works well on social media, but she does not like being filmed. That is her choice, and we can respect that. If at any point she feels [comfortable] with it, we’ll happily film her. There is no ban on her or her family.
As told to Priyanka Sharma
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The actor’s fraught relationship with the paps has sparked fresh controversy. She even questioned their background, triggering backlash from lensmen
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 4, 2025)
Actor and MP Jaya Bachchan’s on-off rapport with paparazzi sparked fresh chatter on Monday.
Talking to journalist Barkha Dutt, Jaya said she has ‘zero relationship’ with paps: “I am the product of a media. Who are these people? Are they trained to be representing the people of this country? You call them media? I come from media. My father was a journalist. I have immense respect for such people.”
She sparked a controversy saying: “Magar yeh jo bahar drainpipe tight, gande pant pehen ke, haath mein mobile leke… they think that because they have a mobile, they can take your picture and say what they want. The kind of comments they pass — what kind of people are these people? Kahan se aate hain? Kis tarah ka education hai? Kya background hai?”
We reached out to the paps, and they are naturally angry.
Varinder Chawla
I have been in the business for so many years, and respected whenever the celebs said something. Ranbir Kapoor said to not pap Raha, same for Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone’s Dua. In 2023, in fact, I had got a video of Amitabh ji from Delhi. Ek fan selfie ke liye aage badhi, unhone bure tareeke se dhakka de diya, chillaye. Seeing his age and image, I sent it to his PR, who requested me so much to not post it, so I didn’t. Humne unki izzat rakhi. I am not saying all the boys on field are right, I have told them to mind their language earlier too. But she should know - the paps which she is targeting, are they all paps, or YouTubers and fans in the mix too? Kisi ko aise bura mat boliye. I told my colleagues apni self respect rakhte hain, aur inko boycott karte hain.
Pallav Paliwal
It’s unfortunate, what she said. Her grandson Agastya’s film Ikkis is going to release, what if the paps don’t come to cover the promotions. Amitabh ji comes outside his house every Sunday, no leading media covers it, it’s us paps. Judging someone on the basis of their appearance, people who work tirelessly day and night… she might be of the opinion that we aren’t ‘media’, but we are social media. Print and electronic se zyaada fast dekhe jaane wala medium hai. If Jaya ji can promote Agastya’s film without paps, on her own, by posting on her social media pages, then okay. Aap itni badi hasti hain, aisa nahi bolna chahiye tha.
Manav Manglani
I respect Jaya ji a lot. But she has not yet evolved with the digital era. The transformation from print to digital is hard for her to grasp, maybe her kids and grandkids could make her understand. At the same time, the sudden influx of some YouTubers and individual content creators with good followers has created some chaos in the field, these guys go to any extent to get some kind of response from celebs which would make their video viral, which is not ethical at all and needs to be stopped immediately.
Ashoke Pandit posted on Insta, reacting to Jaya’s remarks, “Jaya Bachchan ji’s statement against the paparazzi reeks of snobbish elitism. To criticize the aggressive coverage of certain paps is one thing, but to demean the profession altogether, laced with downright classist remarks is unbecoming of such a senior member of our film industry and a parliamentarian. They’re hardworking professionals doing their job, for which most times they’ve been called by the stars and their PR teams themselves. So if she has such a strong opinion against the paparazzi culture, it’s time to look inwards rather than indulge in this misplaced outrage.”
Tug of war is underway between celebs and paps about zooming in on their behind
11:09 PM
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.
Paparazzi slowly resume work as celebs step out
8:45 AM
Shreya Mukherjee (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 11, 2020)
With Unlock 2.0, celebrities have finally started to step out, after spending over 100 days in lockdown. Going out for dubbing sessions, work meetings, salon visit or just a run, of late, several celebs — actors Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Huma S Qureshi, Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Nimrat Kaur, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, among others — were spotted outdoors and their pictures were shared on popular paparazzi Instagram accounts.“Things are getting a little better. We have some celebs coming out every day, given that some work has started,” says celebrity photographer Manav Manglani, adding that while most of them are okay getting clicked, “they maintain distance, and some cooperate and pose, too”. Photos of Saif Ali Khan with son Taimur and Kunal Kemmu with daughter Inaya on their shoulders even went viral.
However, not many celebs are stepping out every day. Celebrity photographer Viral Bhayani shares that only a few common faces are spotted frequently. “Abhishek, Disha, Tiger, etc. are some who are coming out for dubbing and other work. The rest are rarely spotted. When at a distance, some agree to take off the mask for a few seconds, like Nushrratt (Bharuccha) and Angad (Bedi) did. I had put the pictures out with a note that these were clicked from a distance with no one around. But, many expressed displeasure so we’ve stopped doing that,” says Bhayani.
When it comes to work, while Manglani and Bhayani say it has gone up from zero during the Coronavirus lockdown to to 15-20%, celebrity photographers Yogen Shah and Varinder Chawla claim it’s still under 10%. Shah affirms that celebs in masks is going to be the new normal. “We’re mostly clicking celebs in action, while they’re walking in or out of studios, cars, clinics, salons, etc. Since these are mostly full-length photos, we’re able to maintain distance, too,” he shares.However, Bhayani and Chawla add that it’s becoming a challenge for paparazzi as not everyone is ready to be clicked. “Given the sentiment around Sushant (Singh Rajput), many aren’t comfortable getting photographed. They’re not out of that phase,” says Bhayani. Chawla says, “Star kids are rarely stepping out... From 700-800 photos daily, we’ve come down to 50-100,” adding that upon reaching an actor’s birthday celebration recently, “photographers were requested to leave”.
Like everyone, paps are also taking precautions and raring to get back to work, but they admit things won’t be better before the end of this year or 2021. “Most photographers went home; some found other ways to earn,” informs Shah. Pointing out that their expenses haven’t gone down, Bhayani says, “I don’t know for how long we’ll be able to continue like this”.
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