Paparazzi face lockdown woes: Hrithik Roshan, Rohit Shetty offer help, deposit money into their accounts

Popular paparazzi photographers Viral Bhayani and Manav Manglani share that many actors have extended financial support to them so they can pay salaries to their out-of-work team during this nationwide lockdown.

The ongoing lockdown in the country has affected not just actors, but also people at the grassroot level (and yet the most integral part of showbiz), the paparazzi. Temporarily dysfunctional airports, gyms and almost all public places have obviously barred celebrity spotting,and consequently, the flow of any new content for paps.

Filmmaker Rohit Shetty and actor Hrithik Roshan have come forward to help paparazzi deal with this lockdown situation.

Viral Bhayani, one of the most well-known names in the business, reveals that the situation is indeed not good. “I am still completely busy right from morning and it hasn’t changed much for me,” he confesses, “However, financially it has been very bad for my boys (in the team). I had to raise money from celebrities. Some have actually come forward and started calling me ‘If you want money, we will help you out’. Help is pouring in from all quarters.”

This indeed shows that the industry has come together to help each other in these tough times. Manav Manglani, another popular paparazzi, says filmmaker Rohit Shetty too has helped them.

“Most of our photographers are from far-off states. They come to learn, and then we hire them. Most of them are selfie-seeking guys, who want to take this up as work too. A lot of such people work on a monthly salary of Rs 10,000-15,000. And some have not been able to go back to their villages and towns in this lockdown,” Manglani tells us.

Since their work requires them to be in constant touch with the celebs, a rapport gets formed keeping the latter aware of the life paps lead.

“Hrithik’s manager got in touch and said we would like to help in some way. It was a good gesture, why would we say no. I’m also paying my boys their salaries and have told them ‘koi tension nahi hai, agle 2-3 mahine tumhari salary aayegi’. But how much can they do with this salary. In a situation like right now, it’s enough,” says Manglani.

With no new celeb spotting, paparazzi are digging photos from their archives and they say it’s to take their mind off the ‘depressing’ news about Covid-19.

“I have tons of content, but I’m getting a little bored also. When you see all these pics, you feel giddy, so there has to be some gap. Also, it is all becoming too much. I’m not watching anything else much apart from news, you are so hooked on to it. It depresses you all the time,” adds Manglani.