New Delhi: Getting clicked by Paparazzi is nothing new – be it in Bollywood or Hollywood. When we talk about getting papped, what comes to our mind is the group of photographers, running behind celebrities or finding a secured position to click the best moment from celebs’ lives. In earlier times, paparazzi almost risked their lives to snap a once-in-a-lifetime shot. However, the functionality of the paparazzi has changed over the years, especially in Bollywood.
Social media being the monster that needs to be feed 24×7, that’s where content providers who create market demand come to play. Videos of celebrities surfacing on the internet time and again have kept a large number of audiences hooked. To keep the audience updated about what’s happening inside the Bollywood world, paparazzi flood social media with content like celeb’s airport looks or gym looks.
What Bollywood’s Paparazzi seemed like
The works paparazzi do these days was quite different in the mid-90s. One of the instances, the former film journalist Rajeev Masand shared with Hindustan Times was that of the Disclosure star, Demi Moore.
In the mid-90s Demi Moore came back to Mumbai on an invitation from Deepak Chopra. Soon after answering the questions asked by the reporters and posing for photographs at the press conference, she retired to the suite at the Taj Mahal Hotel. She turned away all the reporters seeking “exclusives.”
What was surprising when a photographer from rediff.com in her 20s refused to call it a day. She remained in the corridor outside the actress’ room, pretending to go away whenever she was shooed. However, she remained there for long enough, nearly three hours to catch a glimpse of Moore heading out to attend a party thrown by Parmeshwar Godrej in her honour. It was this photographer, rather a paparazzo who clicked the Hollywood star wrapped in pink saree with hands full of mehendi, making it to the headlines the next day.
Today’s Bollywood paparazzi
However, things have taken a complete u-turn now. Paparazzi are often spotted out the gym or airport where they snap the celebrities coming out of the gym in all sweat, giving them away with a smile. The airport looks of celebrities have gone too far on social media and all thanks go to the paparazzi.
Moreover, you shouldn’t be surprised if you think that how come the paparazzo knows where the celebrities are going. It is because most celebrities tip-off them to get themselves clicked by paps, for publicity stunts. Thus, the next time when you see a celebrity getting papped outside a hotshot producer’s office, it is to lead to speculation among the audience about the celebrities’ upcoming project by the paparazzi they tipped off.
Paparazzi abroad
Hollywood’s paparazzi culture looked quite different in the early 2000s, where you would hear clashes between paps and celebs for invading private moments. Several “gone wrong” photographs landed in ‘Stars, They’re Just Like Us’ tabloid which was the medium for professional stalking. Paparazzi managed to capture moments that would otherwise not be seen by the regular public, giving everyone some “kind of voyeuristic pleasure.”
The role played by the paparazzi played in the spiralling of Britney Spears and the death of Princess Diana showcases what true paparazzi is all about.