The star couple has politely asked the paparazzi not to take pictures of their newborn daughter
One of the most photographed couples in the country, cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma have laid down the rules for the paparazzi and asked the pesky photographers, who often cross the line between the demands of “profession” and intrusion of privacy, to stay away from their newborn child. On Wednesday, in a sweetly-worded note, they urged the paparazzi to refrain from taking pictures of their baby girl. Anushka and Virat sent a note to the paparazzi fraternity in Mumbai, which read: “Hi, thank you for all the love that you have given us all these years. We are happy to celebrate this momentous occasion with you. As parents, we have a simple request to make to you. We want to protect the privacy of our child and we need your help and support.” The couple clearly established that they will ensure that the paparazzi get the content featuring both the stars but requested them to steer clear of their child. “While we will always ensure that you get all the content you need featuring us, we would request you to kindly not take or carry any content that has our child. We know that you will understand where we are coming from and we thank you for the same.” To their credit, the paps agreed to leave the child alone, in turn winning the appreciation of veteran actor Raveena Tandon who took the opportunity to thank them for respecting her wishes too when she was trying to protect her children, who were minors at the time. By reaching out to the paparazzi, Virushka, as the couple is popularly known, have shown the celebrity world how it is done because the relationship between famous people and the paparazzi has been tumultuous, to say the least. While most of the time the celebrities are fine with photographers clicking them as it increases their visibility, like every other human they, too, cherish their private moments and don’t want them splashed on the front pages of tabloids and on websites.
Fame, they say, has a price but most A-listers don’t want their children to pay the price for their parents’ celebrity status. But there are always exceptions to the rule. Like Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan don’t have any issues with pictures of Taimur and AbRam being splashed all over the media and the internet. Even though the older children of both the actors were almost never photographed when they were growing up, both the fathers seem to have no reservation where these latest additions to the family are concerned, thanks to the changing times, one can suppose. As a result, Taimur and AbRam have become social media influencers at such a tender age, as have Aaradhya Bachchan, Misha Kapoor and Inaaya Naumi Kemmu. How these star kids will deal with the pressure of the paparazzi always following them, or maybe the lack of attention once they grow up, only time will tell. At the moment, they are obviously too young to be aware of the repeated violation of their privacy and the danger it entails to their well-being. After all, we live in a country where the five-year-old daughter of a cricketer got a rape threat just because her father was not performing well on the field. It is well that Virushka have decided to keep their private life private for the safety of their child. In fact, many celebrities around the world guard their children zealously from photographers and there have been instances where the paparazzi have been sued for crossing the line. A case in point is Hollywood actor George Clooney, who sued a pap and his publication for climbing over the walls of his villa and clicking photos of his child. Traditionally, the paparazzi are looked down upon as being a thorn in the side of celebrities. However, they alone cannot be blamed for what they do because the public has created a demand for such pictures. If people did not get voyeuristic pleasure out of the candid photos of celebrities and their families, the demand for such pics would not exist and publications would stop paying hefty sums to intrusive photographers.
Friday, 15 January 2021 | Pioneer
