Jaya Bachchan is known for her unfiltered and unabashed words and remarks; she never shies away from talking about whatever is on her heart and mind. Paparazzi and Jaya Bachchan have always had a love-hate relationship. Paps are often stationed outside events, award shows, and red carpets. They are usually called by celebs for spotting at the airport, but Jaya Bachchan doesn't like paps taking her photos; she even disregards them to their face.
On Sunday, Jaya Bachchan made headlines when she made a classist paparazzi remark on paps at Barkha Dutt's show, We The Women. Jaya embroiled herself in controversy as she called photojournalists rats, criticised paps for wearing "gande phate hue pants", and even made comments on them not being qualified.
Her latest comments about the paps have now led to them responding back, and many have decided to boycott her.
Jaya Bachchan's classist remark deserves pushback
Various journalists and paparazzi responded to how Jaya Bachchan's words don't just come across as flawed but are also being spoken at the wrong time, especially because Agastya Nanda's Ikkis is about to release. Speaking with HT City, many paps spoke up about the matter.
Photographer Pallav said, "It's unfortunate what she said. Her grandson Agastya's film Ikkis is going to release, what if the paps don't come to cover the promotions? Amitabh ji comes outside his house every Sunday, no leading media covers it, it's us paps. Judging someone on the basis of their appearance, people who work tirelessly day and night... she might be of the opinion that we aren't 'media', but we are social media. Print and electronic se zyaada fast dekhe jaane wala medium hai. If Jaya ji can promote Agastya's film without paps, on her own, by posting on her social media pages, then okay. Aap itni badi hasti hain, aisa nahi bolna chahiye tha.."
"I respect Jaya ji a lot. But she has not yet evolved with the digital era. The transformation from print to digital is hard for her to grasp; maybe her kids and grandkids could help her understand. At the same time, the sudden influx of some YouTubers and individual content creators with good followers has created chaos in the field. These guys go to any extent to get some kind of reaction from celebs to make their video viral, which is not ethical and needs to stop immediately," said Manav Manglani.
"I have been in the business for so many years and have respected celebs whenever they said something. Ranbir Kapoor said to not pap Raha, same for Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone's Dua. In 2023, I had a video of Amitabh ji in Delhi. Ek fan selfie ke liye aage badhi, unhone bure tareeke se dhakka de diya, chillaye. Seeing his age and image, I sent it to his PR, who requested me so much not to post it, so I didn't. Humne unki izzat rakhi. I am not saying all boys on field are right, I have told them to mind their language earlier too. But she should know—the paps she is targeting, are they all paps, or YouTubers and fans in the mix too? Kisi ko aise bura mat boliye. I told my colleagues, apni self-respect rakhte hain, aur inko boycott karte hain," said Varinder Chawla.
The paparazzi are extremely angry now and don't want to indulge in covering any news about her.
On Sunday, when the video went viral, many applauded her. However, now Jaya is facing a lot of heat for her remarks over the paps' attire.
A user wrote, "Do we get to deprive someone of basic respect just because they don't have a certain lifestyle or sartorial standards? Should dignity be dictated by someone's profession, attire, or socioeconomic background, especially in an industry where every role matters?"
Many even said paps also run their house and that jobs pay them.
What did Jaya Bachchan say?
During an interview with Barkha Dutt for Mojo Story, Jaya Bachchan opened up about how she and the paparazzi don't see eye to eye. "I am the product of the media. Who are these people? Are they trained to represent the people of this country? You call them media? I come from the media. My father was a journalist. I have immense respect, tremendous respect for such people."
"Magar yeh jo bahar drainpipe tight, gande gande pant pehen ke, haath mein mobile leke...(but these people who wear these bad, drainpipe tight pants stand outside with the mobile in their hands...) they think that because they have a mobile, they can take your picture and say what they want. And the kind of comments they pass, what kind of people are these people? Kahan se aate hain? Kis tarah ka education hai? Kya background hai? (Where do they come from? What kind of education is this? What is their background?)"
This isn't the first time Bachchans have been banned by paps
Amitabh Bachchan didn't allow media and photo journalists to take photos and videos of Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai's wedding, and he decided to boycott them all.
In an interview with Hindi Rush, Varinder Chawla shared his experience covering Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai's wedding. He said the family didn't invite the media, but they were there anyway, and he was outside their house.
He recalled, "We knew the points from where we could get the pictures, such as the entry area, but they parked a bus there! So, the entire view of the media was blocked. When they were coming to Prateeksha from their other bungalow, they had security provided by Amar Singh. When the media ran after breaking the barricade, to catch the glimpse, they (security) treated them badly and attacked the media. A lot of media persons were hurt."
The paparazzo mentioned that tensions between the media and the Bachchan family escalated, leading to a major conflict. The media decided not to photograph any Bachchan family members. He said, "I had never seen such a big media ban. They had banned everyone, from Amitabh ji, Jaya ji, Abhishek to Aishwarya.."
"When the Bachchan family would come for some events, photographers would place the camera down or up in the air as a sign of protest. If Bachchan saab was at an event and a call for a group picture was made, the moment he came in front, the photographers would lift their cameras up. They would click the person next to Bachchan saab, but not him.
He added, "Then he called for a personal meeting at the JW Marriott hotel, where the entire media was called. Only after that, the ban was lifted..."
