Mumbai: Jaya Bachchan, who often makes headlines for her sweet interactions with the paparazzi, has taken a dig at what she calls the increasingly intrusive ‘pap culture’.
In a recent interaction at the We The Women Asia event in Mumbai, the veteran actress described today’s paparazzi scene as “weird” and questioned the ethics and professionalism behind it.
Talking about how she differentiates between the media and the paparazzi, Jaya said that she has a lot of respect for journalism but her relationship with the paparazzi is “zero”. Explaining the contradiction, she said that her relationship with the media is “fantastic” as she considers herself a “product of the media”, but when it comes to the paparazzi, the equation is very different.
“My relationship with the media is fantastic. I am a product of the media, but my relationship with the paparazzi is zero.”
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“Who are these people? Are they trained to represent the people of this country? You call them media? I come from media. My father was a journalist. I have a lot of respect for such people.”
He criticized the role and credibility of the paparazzi, describing them as people who believe that merely having a phone gives them authority. Adding how “strange” she finds his behaviour, Jaya shared, “…but this guy out there wearing drain-pipe tight dirty dirty pants with a mobile in his hand…he thinks he can take your picture if he has a mobile in his hand?”
The actress did not hold back and criticized the way the paparazzi made loud verbal comments while clicking pictures. “What kind of comments do they make… What kind of people are these? Where do they come from? What kind of education do they have? What background? (Where do these people come from? What kind of education do they have? What is their background?) Will they represent us? Just because they can get through YouTube or any social media.”
Reacting to being labeled one of the most hated celebrities online, Jaya insisted that she is not affected by it. She said, “I don’t care… you hate me; that’s your opinion. My opinion is that I dislike you intensely because you think you’re a rat (rat) who breaks into someone’s house with a mobile camera.”
Jaya also took a dig at young actors who allegedly give away their whereabouts to the paparazzi to attract attention. Describing the practice as “shameful”, she said, “If you have to call a camera at the airport to take your photo, then what kind of celebrity are you?)”
Jaya Bachchan has often been seen showing displeasure towards the behavior of the paparazzi. The actress has been repeatedly seen warning or admonishing photographers at public events.
On the work front, Jaya was last seen in Karan Johar’s 2023 film Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. The film, which recently won the National Award, was released on July 28, 2023. It also stars Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Churni Ganguly, Aamir Bashir and Kshiti Jog.
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