As Alia Bhatt calls out the paparazzi, who tried to click her in her living room, it’s time for the media to introspect—where does one draw the line?

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lia Bhatt’s recent post on Instagram talked about a breach of privacy at her own living room by the paparazzi.

Things turned ugly when two men parked themselves on the terrace of a building opposite to Alia’s house and trained their cameras on her when she was relaxing in her living room. As stated by Alia, “It was a gross invasion of someone’s privacy. There’s a line you just cannot cross and it’s safe to say all lines were crossed today.”

One is reminded of Virat Kohli’s words, ‘absolute invasion of privacy’ when a hotel staff uploaded a video of Virat Kohli’s room online while he was playing T20 World Cup in Australia. The couple, Virat and Anushka, was furious. However, they didn’t take any legal action.

Anushka came in support of Alia and wrote, “This is not the first time they are doing this. About two years ago we called them out for the same reason! You’d think it would have made them more respectful of people’s space and privacy. Absolutely shameful! They were posting photos of our daughter despite repeated requests.”

Sushmita Sen also reacted to the incident as she wrote, “In a world made smaller by the virtue of the internet, technology, and social media, privacy is but a myth. And if you are a celebrity, you have it worse. With the paparazzi culture at its peak, there is little that can be kept hidden.” Actor Arjun Kapoor compared paps to intruders. The Mumbai police has requested Alia to lodge a complaint as the actress had tagged them in her story.

The recent heckling incidents with cricketer Prithvi Shaw and Sonu Nigam by their fans were also unwelcome intrusion as they had the right to decide if they wanted to get clicked with their fans or not.

Hollywood celebs too have not been spared. A man entered the house of George Clooney and his wife Amal Clooney at Lake Como back in 2017 to click a picture of their newborn twins for a French magazine.

Going back, when Ranbir was in a relationship with Katrina Kaif, their private vacation at Ibiza, Spain, in 2013, became a topic of national interest with pictures of the couple all over internet. The actress wrote an open letter, “The pictures were taken while I was on holiday by someone who, in an act of cowardice, has shot without permission and then used the pictures for commercial gain… I request that all media running these pictures, please refrain from doing so.”

To each his own

But not everyone feels the same way about the paparazzi culture. Bigg Boss fame Shehnaaz Gill calls herself a product of media. As they say, to each his own.

At the other end of the spectrum we have Jaya Bachchan, a fiercely private person. Jaya called out paps, who clicked her at events without permission and fought with photographers who followed her family. She, on Diwali 2022, chased away photo journalists from her bungalow Pratiksha, in Mumbai, who were trying to click pictures of the guests and the family.

Invasion of privacy is always wrong. Clicking someone without permission is just not acceptable. — Adaa Khan

Once, an old lady turned up at my doorstep. I had to run from the shower to open the door. I told her that I didn’t know her, but she was adamant. It got scary to the point that I asked her to leave and she refused. She was escorted out of my house by security. — Andy Kumar