Shots fired: How the paparazzi stopped snooping and got cosy with celebs

Once upon a time, celebrities despised the paparazzi. Hordes of photographers (men, and occasionally a determined woman) would lie in wait, hoping to catch famous people doing something inappropriate, or just being human, in public. They’ve chased Reese Witherspoon at Disneyland at her six-year-old daughter’s birthday party (one photographer even shoved some little girls when they refused pictures). They’ve crashed into Lindsay Lohan’s car, blocked Britney Spears’s ambulance on the way to the hospital, bugged Nicole Kidman’s house, photographed Jennifer Aniston topless in her own home, and chased Princess Diana’s car into that fatal crash in 1997.Now, it seems the relationship has had an update. Celebs are smarter about protecting their privacy, everyone’s got a camera. And photographers have pivoted from sneaky, one-off documentation to clever, organised PR. Take a look…It’s still hard work Mumbai celebrity photographer Laxmikant Rai has been in the business for 18 years. He started out doing studio shoots for magazines. Now, celebrities pay him to dispatch his team of 20 to publish candid, seemingly accidental videos of them for Instagram. Those clips of actors spotted leaving the gym, headed to brunch, or catching a flight are not lucky coincidences. They’re planned, assigned, scripted and paid for, to amplify a celebrity’s star power.Celebrities look like they’re surprised by the cameras. In reality, they’re often the ones calling the shots. “Our clients want coverage immediately, because within minutes, the pictures are everywhere and become stale,” he says. “Being quick is the only solution. Recently one of my colleagues was rushing to a spot when he had an accident. His two-wheeler was nearly crushed. He’s on bed rest. Another one hurt his arm while walking backwards, filming a celebrity.”A sharper lens Old-timers such as Yogen Shah, Manav Manglani and Varinder Chawla now make more money from film promotions and red-carpet events than from snooping around. Viral Bhayani, who’s photographed celebrities for more than two decades, leads a team of 25 photographers, and has expanded his client roster to include big names in real-estate, wellness, fashion and beauty. His own job: Sitting in his office with multiple mobile phones until 2am, sorting hundreds of videos and pictures to post to his 13 million followers on Instagram (@ViralBhayani).“Audiences no longer want nudity and wardrobe malfunctions. Gym and restaurant spotting no longer interests people,” Bhayani says. “I filter and choose what goes, even if that means getting threats from some celebrities for posting or not posting videos of them.” It means that when the spotlight is turned off, their gigs dry up too. When celebrity-led events were cancelled during the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan this month, Bhayani switched to sharing national-security updates. “Everyone wants authenticity in the images they see,” he says. “I can’t be accepting payments for celeb spotting in at a time like this. I posted those advisories because it fit the moment.” Zooming in At the height of paparazzi power in Hollywood, gossip magazines would lay down bounty for first-looks of a celebrity’s infant, a new beau, a private wedding. A seasoned paparazzo would track a single celebrity for years to collect the most damning evidence. India’s big moment came in 2004, when a clip of Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor kissing at a restaurant went viral. “Nobody knew about their relationship until then,” says Janhavi Samant, influencer-marketing expert and former entertainment journalist, who is working on a book on India’s paparazzi culture. “It changed the way entertainment news was reported.”Now, photographers get paid by both the celebrities and by the outlets to whom they provide a daily supply of images. “Most paps are under the age of 35, because the work takes a lot of running around and stamina,” says Rai. Samant isn’t surprised at the pivot. Most of the old guard started as news photographers and know well how to position and script a story. They’re only adapting to what viewers want: “Aspirational content, what we can’t be or can’t have,” she says. “The Ambani wedding was all over social media because people were amazed to see the grandeur, the outfits and the jewellery.” It’s why those artificially candid pictures all look the same – carefully cropped so there’s no competing brand or distracting shop sign in the frame. Celebrities head to the gym casually, but impeccably, styled. They lug designer totes – logo side outwards – as they enter the airport. Many have made more appearances at trendy restaurants than they have made in films or shows. If paparazzi feeds now include videos of tile-business heirs, start-up bros and liquor barons, it’s because those folks are paying their way in, Bhayani says. Social media has already amplified mimics, make-up artists and home cooks. So, for those like Orry and Uorfi Javed, it’s an easier path to fame than endless film auditions. And it’s come full circle. “Social media popularity is now part of the criteria when a role is cast,” says Samant. “It gives filmmakers a ready market to sell a new face to.”It’s hard to be a paparazzo in the traditional sense today. Daniel Radcliffe once repeated the same outfit for six months, thwarting paps’ attempts to sell fresh shots of him to the tabloids. Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan exposed their firstborn son, Taimur, to the media early – killing the public’s interest in him and their second son, Jeh. Celebrity wedding photos are made public in real time. Young actors voluntarily soft-launch their relationships on Insta before the paps can out them. For everything else, someone, somewhere is already recording on their cellphone. We’re all paparazzi now, if we want to be. From HT Brunch, May 17, 2025Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch

Shots fired: How the paparazzi stopped snooping and got cosy with celebs

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